diff --git a/Objects/fileobject.c b/Objects/fileobject.c
index 6f2e35166ba..1b184100d0b 100644
--- a/Objects/fileobject.c
+++ b/Objects/fileobject.c
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ PyFile_NewStdPrinter(int fd)
 static PyObject *
 stdprinter_write(PyStdPrinter_Object *self, PyObject *args)
 {
-    char *c;
+    char *str;
     Py_ssize_t n;
 
     if (self->fd < 0) {
@@ -383,10 +383,11 @@ stdprinter_write(PyStdPrinter_Object *self, PyObject *args)
         Py_RETURN_NONE;
     }
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &c))
+    /* encode Unicode to UTF-8 */
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &str))
         return NULL;
 
-    n = _Py_write(self->fd, c, strlen(c));
+    n = _Py_write(self->fd, str, strlen(str));
     if (n == -1) {
         if (errno == EAGAIN) {
             PyErr_Clear();