diff --git a/contextmenu.py b/contextmenu.py
index 33250c24..19afd13c 100644
--- a/contextmenu.py
+++ b/contextmenu.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ from xbmcgui import Window
 
 
 def _get_kodi_type():
-    kodi_type = listitem.getVideoInfoTag().getMediaType().decode('utf-8')
+    kodi_type = listitem.getVideoInfoTag().getMediaType()
     if not kodi_type:
         if getCondVisibility('Container.Content(albums)'):
             kodi_type = "album"
diff --git a/resources/lib/plex_api/artwork.py b/resources/lib/plex_api/artwork.py
index 4d27c07a..8e354084 100644
--- a/resources/lib/plex_api/artwork.py
+++ b/resources/lib/plex_api/artwork.py
@@ -47,10 +47,9 @@ class Artwork(object):
             except ValueError:
                 # e.g. playlists
                 pass
-            artwork = '%s?width=%s&height=%s' % (artwork, width, height)
-        artwork = ('%s/photo/:/transcode?width=1920&height=1920&'
-                   'minSize=1&upscale=0&url=%s'
-                   % (app.CONN.server, utils.quote(artwork)))
+            artwork = f'{artwork}?width={width}&height={height}'
+        artwork = (f'{app.CONN.server}/photo/:/transcode?width=1920&height=1920&'
+                   f'minSize=1&upscale=0&url={utils.quote(artwork)}')
         artwork = self.attach_plex_token_to_url(artwork)
         return artwork
 
diff --git a/resources/lib/websocket.py b/resources/lib/websocket.py
index 951f6573..f1df3c6a 100644
--- a/resources/lib/websocket.py
+++ b/resources/lib/websocket.py
@@ -731,7 +731,7 @@ class WebSocket(object):
 
     def _send(self, data):
         try:
-            return self.sock.send(data)
+            return self.sock.send(data.encode('utf-8'))
         except socket.timeout as e:
             raise WebSocketTimeoutException(e.args[0])
         except Exception as e:
diff --git a/resources/lib/widgets.py b/resources/lib/widgets.py
index dd5acfd3..fb50ef23 100644
--- a/resources/lib/widgets.py
+++ b/resources/lib/widgets.py
@@ -32,25 +32,23 @@ def get_clean_image(image):
     Pass in either unicode or str; returns unicode
     '''
     if not image:
-        return ""
-    if not isinstance(image, str):
-        image = image.encode('utf-8')
-    if b"music@" in image:
+        return ''
+    if 'music@' in image:
         # fix for embedded images
         thumbcache = xbmc.getCacheThumbName(image)
-        thumbcache = thumbcache.replace(b".tbn", b".jpg")
-        thumbcache = b"special://thumbnails/%s/%s" % (thumbcache[0], thumbcache)
+        thumbcache = thumbcache.replace('.tbn', '.jpg')
+        thumbcache = 'special://thumbnails/%s/%s' % (thumbcache[0], thumbcache)
         if not xbmcvfs.exists(thumbcache):
             xbmcvfs.copy(image, thumbcache)
         image = thumbcache
-    if image and b"image://" in image:
-        image = image.replace(b"image://", b"")
+    if image and 'image://' in image:
+        image = image.replace('image://', '')
         image = utils.unquote(image)
-        if image.endswith("/"):
+        if image.endswith('/'):
             image = image[:-1]
         return image
     else:
-        return image.decode('utf-8')
+        return image
 
 
 def generate_item(api):