diff --git a/Lib/ctypes/test/test_loading.py b/Lib/ctypes/test/test_loading.py
--- a/Lib/ctypes/test/test_loading.py
+++ b/Lib/ctypes/test/test_loading.py
@@ -105,10 +105,17 @@ class LoaderTest(unittest.TestCase):
         windll.kernel32.GetProcAddress.argtypes = c_void_p, c_char_p
         windll.kernel32.GetProcAddress.restype = c_void_p
         proc = windll.kernel32.GetProcAddress(advapi32._handle,
                                               "CloseEventLog")
         self.assertTrue(proc)
         # This is the real test: call the function via 'call_function'
         self.assertEqual(0, call_function(proc, (None,)))
 
+    def test_LoadLibrary_args(self):
+        # cdll.LoadLibrary accepts both bytes-like and unicode objects
+        self.assertIsNotNone(libc_name)
+
+        cdll.LoadLibrary(libc_name)
+        cdll.LoadLibrary(libc_name.decode('ascii'))
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c b/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c
--- a/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c
+++ b/Modules/_ctypes/callproc.c
@@ -1276,17 +1276,17 @@ Load an executable (usually a DLL), and 
 The handle may be used to locate exported functions in this\n\
 module.\n";
 static PyObject *load_library(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 {
     TCHAR *name;
     PyObject *nameobj;
     PyObject *ignored;
     HMODULE hMod;
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "S|O:LoadLibrary", &nameobj, &ignored))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O:LoadLibrary", &nameobj, &ignored))
         return NULL;
 #ifdef _UNICODE
     name = alloca((PyString_Size(nameobj) + 1) * sizeof(WCHAR));
     if (!name) {
         PyErr_NoMemory();
         return NULL;
     }