diff --git a/syncplay/utils.py b/syncplay/utils.py
index 33b9a82..2ae76f6 100644
--- a/syncplay/utils.py
+++ b/syncplay/utils.py
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def stripfilename(filename):
     return re.sub(constants.FILENAME_STRIP_REGEX,"",filename)
 
 def hashFilename(filename):
-    return hashlib.sha256(stripfilename(filename)).hexdigest()[:12]
+    return hashlib.sha256(stripfilename(filename).encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()[:12]
 
 def hashFilesize(size):
     return hashlib.sha256(str(size)).hexdigest()[:12]