diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/fc2.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/fc2.py
index 1ccc1a964..e4f7195a8 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/fc2.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/fc2.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ class FC2IE(InfoExtractor):
 
         info_url = (
             "http://video.fc2.com/ginfo.php?mimi={1:s}&href={2:s}&v={0:s}&fversion=WIN%2011%2C6%2C602%2C180&from=2&otag=0&upid={0:s}&tk=null&".
-            format(video_id, mimi, compat_urllib_request.quote(refer, safe='').replace('.', '%2E')))
+            format(video_id, mimi, compat_urllib_request.quote(refer, safe=b'').replace('.', '%2E')))
 
         info_webpage = self._download_webpage(
             info_url, video_id, note='Downloading info page')