diff --git a/src/filters/rclkar b/src/filters/rclkar
index 677d0a4b..d6570dd5 100755
--- a/src/filters/rclkar
+++ b/src/filters/rclkar
@@ -43,14 +43,12 @@ htmltemplate = '''
 </html>
 '''
 
+nlbytes = b'\n'
+bsbytes = b'\\'
 PY3 = sys.version > '3'
 if PY3:
-    nlbytes = bytes('\n', encoding='iso-8859-1')
-    bsbytes = bytes('\\', encoding='iso-8859-1')
     nullchar = 0
 else:
-    nlbytes = '\n'
-    bsbytes = '\\'
     nullchar = chr(0)
     
 class KarTextExtractor:
diff --git a/src/filters/rclmidi.py b/src/filters/rclmidi.py
index 4cdc06f6..c0ebedb7 100755
--- a/src/filters/rclmidi.py
+++ b/src/filters/rclmidi.py
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ if PY3:
     def next_byte_as_int(data):
         return next(data)
     def next_byte_as_char(data):
-        ret = bytes([next(data)])
-        return ret
+        return bytes([next(data)])
 else:
     def next_byte_as_int(data):
         return ord(data.next())