diff --git a/terminatorlib/plugins/custom_commands.py b/terminatorlib/plugins/custom_commands.py
index f2ddfdf0..fa16e618 100644
--- a/terminatorlib/plugins/custom_commands.py
+++ b/terminatorlib/plugins/custom_commands.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ class CustomCommandsMenu(plugin.MenuItem):
       if command[-1] != '\n':
         command = command + '\n'
       for terminal in data['terminals']:
-        terminal.vte.feed_child_binary(command.encode(terminal.vte.get_encoding()))
+        terminal.vte.feed_child(command.encode())
 
     def configure(self, widget, data = None):
       ui = {}
diff --git a/terminatorlib/terminal.py b/terminatorlib/terminal.py
index 021188ec..156f8b9a 100644
--- a/terminatorlib/terminal.py
+++ b/terminatorlib/terminal.py
@@ -1198,7 +1198,7 @@ class Terminal(Gtk.VBox):
             ### Never send a CRLF to the terminal from here
             txt = txt.rstrip('\r\n')
             for term in self.terminator.get_target_terms(self):
-                term.feed(txt)
+                term.feed(txt.encode())
             return
 
         widgetsrc = data.terminator.terminals[int(selection_data.get_data())]
@@ -1596,7 +1596,7 @@ class Terminal(Gtk.VBox):
 
     def feed(self, text):
         """Feed the supplied text to VTE"""
-        self.vte.feed_child_binary(text.encode(self.vte.get_encoding()))
+        self.vte.feed_child(text)
 
     def zoom_in(self):
         """Increase the font size"""