diff --git a/gcloud/exceptions.py b/gcloud/exceptions.py
index 78f641118031..3f3842c22a19 100644
--- a/gcloud/exceptions.py
+++ b/gcloud/exceptions.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 """
 
 import json
+import six
 
 _HTTP_CODE_TO_EXCEPTION = {}  # populated at end of module
 
@@ -171,6 +172,9 @@ def make_exception(response, content, use_json=True):
     :rtype: instance of :class:`GCloudError`, or a concrete subclass.
     :returns: Exception specific to the error response.
     """
+    if six.PY3 and isinstance(content, bytes):
+        content = content.decode('utf-8')  # pragma: NO COVER Py3K
+
     message = content
     errors = ()
 
diff --git a/gcloud/storage/connection.py b/gcloud/storage/connection.py
index fabb1edfb94d..58f6369bb884 100644
--- a/gcloud/storage/connection.py
+++ b/gcloud/storage/connection.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 """Create / interact with gcloud storage connections."""
 
 import json
+import six
 
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlencode  # pylint: disable=F0401
 
@@ -235,6 +236,9 @@ def api_request(self, method, path, query_params=None,
         if not 200 <= response.status < 300:
             raise make_exception(response, content)
 
+        if six.PY3 and isinstance(content, bytes):
+            content = content.decode('utf-8')  # pragma: NO COVER Py3K
+
         if content and expect_json:
             content_type = response.get('content-type', '')
             if not content_type.startswith('application/json'):