diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index 82d0f5cc4580..7c1ad85bc5c7 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -1472,6 +1472,7 @@ def tk_window_focus():
 
 default_test_modules = [
     'matplotlib.tests.test_agg',
+    'matplotlib.tests.test_afm',
     'matplotlib.tests.test_animation',
     'matplotlib.tests.test_arrow_patches',
     'matplotlib.tests.test_artist',
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/afm.py b/lib/matplotlib/afm.py
index 212d6ebe129d..45549e31a28d 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/afm.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/afm.py
@@ -57,12 +57,12 @@
 def _to_int(x):
     return int(float(x))
 
+
 _to_float = float
-if six.PY3:
-    def _to_str(x):
-        return x.decode('utf8')
-else:
-    _to_str = str
+
+
+def _to_str(x):
+    return x.decode('utf8')
 
 
 def _to_list_of_ints(s):
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_afm.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_afm.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ca8583d542be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_afm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
+
+import matplotlib.afm as afm
+
+
+def test_nonascii_str():
+    # This tests that we also decode bytes as utf-8 properly.
+    # Else, font files with non ascii characters fail to load.
+    inp_str = "привет"
+    byte_str = inp_str.encode("utf8")
+
+    ret = afm._to_str(byte_str)
+    assert ret == inp_str