diff -r 39ddcc5c7fb9 Lib/pickle.py
--- a/Lib/pickle.py	Sat Feb 25 19:26:39 2012 +0200
+++ b/Lib/pickle.py	Sat Mar 17 17:03:09 2012 +0100
@@ -798,7 +798,8 @@
         map the old Python 2.x names to the new names used in Python 3.x.  The
         *encoding* and *errors* tell pickle how to decode 8-bit string
         instances pickled by Python 2.x; these default to 'ASCII' and
-        'strict', respectively.
+        'strict', respectively. *encoding* can be 'bytes' to read 8-bit string
+        instances as bytes objects.
         """
         self.readline = file.readline
         self.read = file.read
@@ -935,6 +936,12 @@
         self.append(unpack('>d', self.read(8))[0])
     dispatch[BINFLOAT[0]] = load_binfloat
 
+    def decode_string(self, value):
+        if self.encoding == "bytes":
+            return value
+        else:
+            return value.decode(self.encoding, self.errors)
+
     def load_string(self):
         orig = self.readline()
         rep = orig[:-1]
@@ -946,15 +953,13 @@
                 break
         else:
             raise ValueError("insecure string pickle: %r" % orig)
-        self.append(codecs.escape_decode(rep)[0]
-                    .decode(self.encoding, self.errors))
+        self.append(self.decode_string(codecs.escape_decode(rep)[0]))
     dispatch[STRING[0]] = load_string
 
     def load_binstring(self):
         len = mloads(b'i' + self.read(4))
         data = self.read(len)
-        value = str(data, self.encoding, self.errors)
-        self.append(value)
+        self.append(self.decode_string(data))
     dispatch[BINSTRING[0]] = load_binstring
 
     def load_binbytes(self):
@@ -973,9 +978,8 @@
 
     def load_short_binstring(self):
         len = ord(self.read(1))
-        data = bytes(self.read(len))
-        value = str(data, self.encoding, self.errors)
-        self.append(value)
+        data = self.read(len)
+        self.append(self.decode_string(data))
     dispatch[SHORT_BINSTRING[0]] = load_short_binstring
 
     def load_short_binbytes(self):
diff -r 39ddcc5c7fb9 Modules/_pickle.c
--- a/Modules/_pickle.c	Sat Feb 25 19:26:39 2012 +0200
+++ b/Modules/_pickle.c	Sat Mar 17 17:03:09 2012 +0100
@@ -4108,6 +4108,18 @@
     return 0;
 }
 
+/* Returns a new reference */
+static PyObject *
+decode_string(UnpicklerObject *self, PyObject *value)
+{
+    if (strcmp(self->encoding, "bytes") == 0) {
+        Py_INCREF(value);
+        return value;
+    } else {
+        return PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject(value, self->encoding, self->errors);
+    }
+}
+    
 static int
 load_string(UnpicklerObject *self)
 {
@@ -4150,7 +4162,8 @@
     free(s);
     if (bytes == NULL)
         return -1;
-    str = PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject(bytes, self->encoding, self->errors);
+
+    str = decode_string(self, bytes);
     Py_DECREF(bytes);
     if (str == NULL)
         return -1;
@@ -4214,7 +4227,7 @@
 static int
 load_binstring(UnpicklerObject *self)
 {
-    PyObject *str;
+    PyObject *bytes, *str;
     Py_ssize_t x;
     char *s;
 
@@ -4231,8 +4244,12 @@
     if (_Unpickler_Read(self, &s, x) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    /* Convert Python 2.x strings to unicode. */
-    str = PyUnicode_Decode(s, x, self->encoding, self->errors);
+    bytes = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(s, x);
+    if (bytes == NULL)
+        return -1;
+
+    str = decode_string(self, bytes);
+    Py_DECREF(bytes);
     if (str == NULL)
         return -1;
 
@@ -4243,7 +4260,7 @@
 static int
 load_short_binstring(UnpicklerObject *self)
 {
-    PyObject *str;
+    PyObject *bytes, *str;
     Py_ssize_t x;
     char *s;
 
@@ -4255,8 +4272,12 @@
     if (_Unpickler_Read(self, &s, x) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    /* Convert Python 2.x strings to unicode. */
-    str = PyUnicode_Decode(s, x, self->encoding, self->errors);
+    bytes = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(s, x);
+    if (bytes == NULL)
+        return -1;
+
+    str = decode_string(self, bytes);
+    Py_DECREF(bytes);
     if (str == NULL)
         return -1;
 
@@ -5580,7 +5601,8 @@
 "map the old Python 2.x names to the new names used in Python 3.x.  The\n"
 "*encoding* and *errors* tell pickle how to decode 8-bit string\n"
 "instances pickled by Python 2.x; these default to 'ASCII' and\n"
-"'strict', respectively.\n");
+"'strict', respectively. *encoding* can be 'bytes' to read 8-bit string\n"
+"instances as byte objects.\n");
 
 static int
 Unpickler_init(UnpicklerObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)