diff --git a/doc/UltiSnips.txt b/doc/UltiSnips.txt
index f0a12e2..7a9e671 100644
--- a/doc/UltiSnips.txt
+++ b/doc/UltiSnips.txt
@@ -1384,6 +1384,7 @@ individuals have contributed to UltiSnips (in chronological order):
    Pedro Ferrari - petobens
    Ches Martin - ches
    Christian - Oberon00
+   Andrew Ruder - aeruder
 
 Thank you for your support.
 
diff --git a/pythonx/UltiSnips/compatibility.py b/pythonx/UltiSnips/compatibility.py
index 1a05f13..c8c975e 100644
--- a/pythonx/UltiSnips/compatibility.py
+++ b/pythonx/UltiSnips/compatibility.py
@@ -10,22 +10,21 @@ import sys
 
 import vim  # pylint:disable=import-error
 
-def _vim_dec(string):
-    """Decode 'string' using &encoding."""
-    try:
-        return string.decode(vim.eval("&encoding"))
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        # At least we tried. There might be some problems down the road now
-        return string
-
-def _vim_enc(string):
-    """Encode 'string' using &encoding."""
-    try:
-        return string.encode(vim.eval("&encoding"))
-    except UnicodeEncodeError:
-        return string
-
 if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
+    def _vim_dec(string):
+        """Decode 'string' using &encoding."""
+        # We don't have the luxury here of failing, everything
+        # falls apart if we don't return a bytearray from the
+        # passed in string
+        return string.decode(vim.eval("&encoding"), "replace")
+
+    def _vim_enc(bytearray):
+        """Encode 'string' using &encoding."""
+        # We don't have the luxury here of failing, everything
+        # falls apart if we don't return a string from the passed
+        # in bytearray
+        return bytearray.encode(vim.eval("&encoding"), "replace")
+
     def open_ascii_file(filename, mode):
         """Opens a file in "r" mode."""
         return open(filename, mode, encoding="utf-8")
@@ -60,6 +59,22 @@ if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
 else:
     import warnings
     warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", category=DeprecationWarning)
+
+    def _vim_dec(string):
+        """Decode 'string' using &encoding."""
+        try:
+            return string.decode(vim.eval("&encoding"))
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            # At least we tried. There might be some problems down the road now
+            return string
+
+    def _vim_enc(string):
+        """Encode 'string' using &encoding."""
+        try:
+            return string.encode(vim.eval("&encoding"))
+        except UnicodeEncodeError:
+            return string
+
     def open_ascii_file(filename, mode):
         """Opens a file in "r" mode."""
         return open(filename, mode)