diff --git a/uapi/appapi.py b/uapi/appapi.py
index 30510ff..f26e910 100644
--- a/uapi/appapi.py
+++ b/uapi/appapi.py
@@ -176,16 +176,15 @@ class UAPI:
 		gen = liner(self.__call__(upappid, apiname, callerid, params=params))
 		async for line in gen:
 			debug(f'{line=},{type(line)=}')
+			line = line.decode('utf-8')
 			filter = self.uapi.chunk_match
-			if filter:
-				filter = filter.encode('utf-8')
-			else:
-				filter = b''
+			if not filter:
+				filter = ''
 			if line.startswith(filter):
 				line = line[len(filter):]
 				if self.uapi.response:
 					try:
-						dic = json.loads(line.decode('utf-8'))
+						dic = json.loads(line)
 						line = self.rendertmpl(self.uapi.response, dic)
 						line = self.filter_nl_cr(line)
 					except Exception as e: