diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py
index b146b7faac..52ccd8b396 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from datetime import datetime
 
 from calibre.constants import plugins, ispy3
 from calibre.utils.logging import default_log
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, codepoint_to_chr
 from polyglot.binary import as_hex_bytes
 
 pdf_float = plugins['speedup'][0].pdf_float
@@ -90,8 +90,11 @@ class Name(unicode_type):
         raw = self.encode('ascii')
         if len(raw) > 126:
             raise ValueError('Name too long: %r'%self)
-        buf = [x if 33 < ord(x) < 126 and x != b'#' else b'#'+hex(ord(x)) for x
-               in raw]
+        raw = bytearray(raw)
+        sharp = ord(b'#')
+        buf = (
+            codepoint_to_chr(x).encode('ascii') if 33 < x < 126 and x != sharp else
+            b'#'+hex(x).encode('ascii') for x in raw)
         stream.write(b'/'+b''.join(buf))
 
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/qt_hack.cpp b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/qt_hack.cpp
index 81f54d7591..5974feb878 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/qt_hack.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/qt_hack.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@
 #include "private/qtextengine_p.h"
 #include "private/qfontengine_p.h"
 
+#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION > 2
+#define BYTES_FMT "y#"
+#else
+#define BYTES_FMT "s#"
+#endif
+
 PyObject* get_glyphs(const QPointF &p, const QTextItem &text_item) {
     const quint32 *tag = reinterpret_cast<const quint32 *>("name");
     QTextItemInt ti = static_cast<const QTextItemInt &>(text_item);
@@ -57,14 +63,14 @@ PyObject* get_glyphs(const QPointF &p, const QTextItem &text_item) {
         PyTuple_SET_ITEM(indices, i, temp); temp = NULL;
     }
     const QByteArray table(fe->getSfntTable(qToBigEndian(*tag)));
-    return Py_BuildValue("s#ffOO", table.constData(), table.size(), size, stretch, points, indices);
+    return Py_BuildValue(BYTES_FMT "ffOO", table.constData(), table.size(), size, stretch, points, indices);
 }
 
 PyObject* get_sfnt_table(const QTextItem &text_item, const char* tag_name) {
     QTextItemInt ti = static_cast<const QTextItemInt &>(text_item);
     const quint32 *tag = reinterpret_cast<const quint32 *>(tag_name);
     const QByteArray table(ti.fontEngine->getSfntTable(qToBigEndian(*tag)));
-    return Py_BuildValue("s#", table.constData(), table.size());
+    return Py_BuildValue(BYTES_FMT, table.constData(), table.size());
 }
 
 PyObject* get_glyph_map(const QTextItem &text_item) {
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py
index c5cee3b20f..1deea12f27 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.pdf.render.common import (
 from calibre.ebooks.pdf.render.fonts import FontManager
 from calibre.ebooks.pdf.render.links import Links
 from calibre.utils.date import utcnow
+from polyglot.builtins import as_unicode
 
 PDFVER = b'%PDF-1.4'  # 1.4 is needed for XMP metadata
 
@@ -520,7 +521,7 @@ class PDFStream(object):
         self.objects.pdf_serialize(self.stream)
         self.write_line()
         startxref = self.objects.write_xref(self.stream)
-        file_id = String(self.stream.hashobj.hexdigest().decode('ascii'))
+        file_id = String(as_unicode(self.stream.hashobj.hexdigest()))
         self.write_line('trailer')
         trailer = Dictionary({'Root':self.catalog, 'Size':len(self.objects)+1,
                               'ID':Array([file_id, file_id]), 'Info':inforef})