diff --git a/plugins/String/plugin.py b/plugins/String/plugin.py
index 96da6855f..93f8942e8 100644
--- a/plugins/String/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/String/plugin.py
@@ -81,7 +81,12 @@ class String(callbacks.Plugin):
         <http://docs.python.org/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings>.
         """
         try:
-            irc.reply(text.decode(encoding).encode('utf-8'))
+            s = text.decode(encoding)
+            # Not all encodings decode to a unicode object.  Only encode those
+            # that do.
+            if isinstance(s, unicode):
+                s = s.encode('utf-8')
+            irc.reply(s)
         except LookupError:
             irc.errorInvalid('encoding', encoding)
         except binascii.Error: