diff --git a/git-filter-repo b/git-filter-repo
index ae03111..3a41d95 100755
--- a/git-filter-repo
+++ b/git-filter-repo
@@ -1504,7 +1504,7 @@ class GitUtils(object):
     count = int(p2.communicate()[0])
     if p1.poll() != 0:
       raise SystemExit(_("%s does not appear to be a valid git repository")
-                       % repo)
+                       % decode(repo))
     return count
 
   @staticmethod
diff --git a/t/t9391-filter-repo-lib-usage.sh b/t/t9391-filter-repo-lib-usage.sh
index 761f43a..a79d768 100755
--- a/t/t9391-filter-repo-lib-usage.sh
+++ b/t/t9391-filter-repo-lib-usage.sh
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ test_expect_success 'other error cases' '
 		cd other &&
 
 		! python3 -c "import git_filter_repo as fr; fr.GitUtils.get_commit_count(b\".\", [\"HEAD\"])" 2>err &&
-		test_i18ngrep ". does not appear to be a valid git repository" err
+		test_i18ngrep "\. does not appear to be a valid git repository" err
 	)
 '