diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 32dd8a8..286af8e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Unreleased
 	  SERVEFILE_SECONDARY_PORT
 	* fixed broken redirect when filename contained umlauts or other characters
 	  that should have been quoted
+	* fixed broken special char handling in directory listing for python2
 	* drop python3.5 support
 
 
diff --git a/servefile/servefile.py b/servefile/servefile.py
index 7e7fd48..8bdbc34 100755
--- a/servefile/servefile.py
+++ b/servefile/servefile.py
@@ -542,7 +542,9 @@ class DirListingHandler(FileBaseHandler):
 		self.send_header("Content-Length", str(len(listing)))
 		self.send_header('Connection', 'close')
 		self.end_headers()
-		self.wfile.write(listing.encode())
+		if sys.version_info.major >= 3:
+			listing = listing.encode()
+		self.wfile.write(listing)
 
 	def convertSize(self, size):
 		for ext in "KMGT":