--- a/eric6/E5XML/XMLStreamWriterBase.py	Sat Aug 31 12:29:57 2019 +0200
+++ b/eric6/E5XML/XMLStreamWriterBase.py	Sat Aug 31 12:58:11 2019 +0200
@@ -8,12 +8,7 @@
 """
 
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
-try:
-    str = unicode
-except NameError:
-    pass
 
-import sys
 import pickle
 import base64
 
@@ -45,10 +40,8 @@
             dict: self._write_dictionary,
             set: self._write_set,
             frozenset: self._write_frozenset,
+            bytes: self._write_bytes,
         }
-        # 'bytes' is identical to 'str' in Py2
-        if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
-            self.basics[bytes] = self._write_bytes
 
         self.setAutoFormatting(True)
         self.setAutoFormattingIndent(2)