diff --git a/Lib/chunk.py b/Lib/chunk.py
index 98187b2c43a..84b77cc8202 100644
--- a/Lib/chunk.py
+++ b/Lib/chunk.py
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ class Chunk:
         if self.closed:
             raise ValueError("I/O operation on closed file")
         if self.size_read >= self.chunksize:
-            return ''
+            return b''
         if size < 0:
             size = self.chunksize - self.size_read
         if size > self.chunksize - self.size_read:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 87327b30bde..bdbd74e6bfa 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #24608: chunk.Chunk.read() now always returns bytes, not str.
+
 - Issue #18684: Fixed reading out of the buffer in the re module.
 
 - Issue #24259: tarfile now raises a ReadError if an archive is truncated