diff --git a/rhodecode/apps/login/tests/test_login.py b/rhodecode/apps/login/tests/test_login.py
--- a/rhodecode/apps/login/tests/test_login.py
+++ b/rhodecode/apps/login/tests/test_login.py
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ class TestLoginController(object):
         response = self.app.post(
             route_path('login'),
             {'username': user.username,
-             'password': password.encode('utf-8')})
+             'password': password})
         assert response.status_code == 302
 
     def test_login_wrong_username_password(self):
diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/commit.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/commit.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/commit.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/git/commit.py
@@ -340,8 +340,6 @@ class GitCommit(base.BaseCommit):
         return nodes
 
     def get_node(self, path, pre_load=None):
-        if isinstance(path, unicode):
-            path = path.encode('utf-8')
         path = self._fix_path(path)
         if path not in self.nodes:
             try:
diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/inmemory.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/inmemory.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/inmemory.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/inmemory.py
@@ -49,11 +49,12 @@ class MercurialInMemoryCommit(BaseInMemo
         """
         self.check_integrity(parents)
 
-        if not isinstance(message, unicode) or not isinstance(author, unicode):
+        if not isinstance(message, str) or not isinstance(author, str):
             # TODO: johbo: Should be a TypeError
-            raise RepositoryError('Given message and author needs to be '
-                                  'an <unicode> instance got %r & %r instead'
-                                  % (type(message), type(author)))
+            raise RepositoryError(
+                f'Given message and author needs to be '
+                f'an <str> instance got {type(message)} & {type(author)} instead'
+            )
 
         if branch is None:
             branch = self.repository.DEFAULT_BRANCH_NAME
diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
@@ -959,7 +959,7 @@ class MercurialRepository(BaseRepository
         self._remote.invalidate_vcs_cache()
 
     def bookmark(self, bookmark, revision=None):
-        if isinstance(bookmark, unicode):
+        if isinstance(bookmark, str):
             bookmark = safe_str(bookmark)
         self._remote.bookmark(bookmark, revision=revision)
         self._remote.invalidate_vcs_cache()
diff --git a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/svn/commit.py b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/svn/commit.py
--- a/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/svn/commit.py
+++ b/rhodecode/lib/vcs/backends/svn/commit.py
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ class SubversionCommit(base.BaseCommit):
     @LazyProperty
     def affected_files(self):
         changed_files = set()
-        for files in self._changes_cache.itervalues():
+        for files in self._changes_cache.values():
             changed_files.update(files)
         return list(changed_files)
 
diff --git a/rhodecode/tests/rhodecode.ini b/rhodecode/tests/rhodecode.ini
--- a/rhodecode/tests/rhodecode.ini
+++ b/rhodecode/tests/rhodecode.ini
@@ -458,7 +458,6 @@ sqlalchemy.db1.echo = false
 
 ; recycle the connections after this amount of seconds
 sqlalchemy.db1.pool_recycle = 3600
-sqlalchemy.db1.convert_unicode = true
 
 ; the number of connections to keep open inside the connection pool.
 ; 0 indicates no limit