diff --git a/pyfeeds/imagecache.py b/pyfeeds/imagecache.py
index aefca31b1b4cf479d1170892676466dd2d89aae8..c101fc0431409c8aba9fbcf0c4516a2e995f7453 100644
--- a/pyfeeds/imagecache.py
+++ b/pyfeeds/imagecache.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class ImageCache:
         returned value will be ``None``.
         """
 
-        imagefile = op.realpath(op.abspath(imagefile))
+        imagefile = str(op.realpath(op.abspath(imagefile)))
         image     = self.__images.get(imagefile, None)
 
         if image is not None:
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ class ImageCache:
         # it in this way because all keys
         # passed to __getitem__ get
         # transformed in the same way.
-        imagefile                    = op.realpath(op.abspath(imagefile))
+        imagefile                    = str(op.realpath(op.abspath(imagefile)))
         imagesize                    = size(image)
         self.__images[    imagefile] = image, data
         self.__imagesizes[imagefile] = imagesize