diff --git a/vcsserver/base.py b/vcsserver/base.py
--- a/vcsserver/base.py
+++ b/vcsserver/base.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from vcsserver.lib.rc_cache import regio
 
 from vcsserver import exceptions
 from vcsserver.exceptions import NoContentException
-from vcsserver.hgcompat import (archival)
+from vcsserver.hgcompat import archival
 from vcsserver.str_utils import safe_bytes
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -101,16 +101,17 @@ def archive_repo(walker, archive_dest_pa
                 yield ArchiveNode(fn, mode, is_link, ctx[fn].data)
     """
     extra_metadata = extra_metadata or {}
+    archive_dest_path = safe_bytes(archive_dest_path)
 
     if kind == "tgz":
-        archiver = archival.tarit(archive_dest_path, mtime, "gz")
+        archiver = archival.tarit(archive_dest_path, mtime, b"gz")
     elif kind == "tbz2":
-        archiver = archival.tarit(archive_dest_path, mtime, "bz2")
+        archiver = archival.tarit(archive_dest_path, mtime, b"bz2")
     elif kind == 'zip':
         archiver = archival.zipit(archive_dest_path, mtime)
     else:
         raise exceptions.ArchiveException()(
-            'Remote does not support: "%s" archive type.' % kind)
+            f'Remote does not support: "{kind}" archive type.')
 
     for f in walker(commit_id, archive_at_path):
         f_path = os.path.join(safe_bytes(archive_dir_name), f.path.lstrip(b'/'))