diff --git a/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_list.py b/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_list.py
index a1afc96000..edd5712555 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_list.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_list.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from calibre import prints
 from calibre.db.cli.utils import str_width
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import authors_to_string
 from calibre.utils.date import isoformat
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, map
+from polyglot.builtins import as_bytes, iteritems, map, unicode_type
 
 readonly = True
 version = 0  # change this if you change signature of implementation()
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ def do_list(
     with ColoredStream(sys.stdout, fg='green'):
         prints(''.join(titles))
     stdout = getattr(sys.stdout, 'buffer', sys.stdout)
+    linesep = as_bytes(os.linesep)
 
     wrappers = [TextWrapper(x - 1).wrap if x > 1 else lambda y: y for x in widths]
 
@@ -219,7 +220,7 @@ def do_list(
                 if i < len(text) - 1:
                     filler = ('%*s' % (widths[i] - str_width(ft) - 1, ''))
                     stdout.write((filler + separator).encode('utf-8'))
-            stdout.write(b'\n')
+            stdout.write(linesep)
 
 
 def option_parser(get_parser, args):