diff --git a/Lib/test/test_sqlite3/test_dbapi.py b/Lib/test/test_sqlite3/test_dbapi.py
index eaba39186e9..2949e13e356 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_sqlite3/test_dbapi.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_sqlite3/test_dbapi.py
@@ -685,6 +685,19 @@ class OpenTests(unittest.TestCase):
             with managed_connect(f"file:{TESTFN}?mode=ro", uri=True) as cx:
                 cx.execute(self._sql)
 
+    def test_factory_database_arg(self):
+        def factory(database, *args, **kwargs):
+            nonlocal database_arg
+            database_arg = database
+            return sqlite.Connection(":memory:", *args, **kwargs)
+
+        for database in (TESTFN, os.fsencode(TESTFN),
+                         FakePath(TESTFN), FakePath(os.fsencode(TESTFN))):
+            database_arg = None
+            with sqlite.connect(database, factory=factory):
+                pass
+            self.assertEqual(database_arg, database)
+
     def test_database_keyword(self):
         with sqlite.connect(database=":memory:") as cx:
             self.assertEqual(type(cx), sqlite.Connection)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-05-21-13-16-16.gh-issue-93044.eJ_XkZ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-05-21-13-16-16.gh-issue-93044.eJ_XkZ.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c9df8676bcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-05-21-13-16-16.gh-issue-93044.eJ_XkZ.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+No longer convert the database argument of :func:`sqlite3.connect` to bytes
+before passing it to the factory.
diff --git a/Modules/_sqlite/clinic/module.c.h b/Modules/_sqlite/clinic/module.c.h
index 8f7008adef2..b088f4b8cfc 100644
--- a/Modules/_sqlite/clinic/module.c.h
+++ b/Modules/_sqlite/clinic/module.c.h
@@ -43,9 +43,7 @@ pysqlite_connect(PyObject *module, PyObject *const *args, Py_ssize_t nargs, PyOb
     if (!args) {
         goto exit;
     }
-    if (!PyUnicode_FSConverter(args[0], &database)) {
-        goto exit;
-    }
+    database = args[0];
     if (!noptargs) {
         goto skip_optional_pos;
     }
@@ -334,4 +332,4 @@ skip_optional:
 exit:
     return return_value;
 }
-/*[clinic end generated code: output=d846459943008a9c input=a9049054013a1b77]*/
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=10c4f942dc9f0c79 input=a9049054013a1b77]*/
diff --git a/Modules/_sqlite/module.c b/Modules/_sqlite/module.c
index fbc57c7cc73..3f69427916a 100644
--- a/Modules/_sqlite/module.c
+++ b/Modules/_sqlite/module.c
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ module _sqlite3
 /*[clinic input]
 _sqlite3.connect as pysqlite_connect
 
-    database: object(converter='PyUnicode_FSConverter')
+    database: object
     timeout: double = 5.0
     detect_types: int = 0
     isolation_level: object = NULL
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ pysqlite_connect_impl(PyObject *module, PyObject *database, double timeout,
                       int detect_types, PyObject *isolation_level,
                       int check_same_thread, PyObject *factory,
                       int cached_statements, int uri)
-/*[clinic end generated code: output=450ac9078b4868bb input=ea6355ba55a78e12]*/
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=450ac9078b4868bb input=e16914663ddf93ce]*/
 {
     if (isolation_level == NULL) {
         isolation_level = PyUnicode_FromString("");
@@ -81,7 +81,6 @@ pysqlite_connect_impl(PyObject *module, PyObject *database, double timeout,
                                           timeout, detect_types,
                                           isolation_level, check_same_thread,
                                           factory, cached_statements, uri);
-    Py_DECREF(database);  // needed bco. the AC FSConverter
     Py_DECREF(isolation_level);
     return res;
 }