diff --git a/hgext/convert/bzr.py b/hgext/convert/bzr.py
--- a/hgext/convert/bzr.py
+++ b/hgext/convert/bzr.py
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ from . import common
 # these do not work with demandimport, blacklist
 demandimport.IGNORES.update(
     [
-        b'breezy.transactions',
-        b'breezy.urlutils',
-        b'ElementPath',
+        'breezy.transactions',
+        'breezy.urlutils',
+        'ElementPath',
     ]
 )
 
diff --git a/hgext/highlight/highlight.py b/hgext/highlight/highlight.py
--- a/hgext/highlight/highlight.py
+++ b/hgext/highlight/highlight.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 from mercurial import demandimport
 
-demandimport.IGNORES.update([b'pkgutil', b'pkg_resources', b'__main__'])
+demandimport.IGNORES.update(['pkgutil', 'pkg_resources', '__main__'])
 
 from mercurial import (
     encoding,