diff --git a/bindings/python/src/bytes.hpp b/bindings/python/src/bytes.hpp
index 640366f36..d2690a62d 100644
--- a/bindings/python/src/bytes.hpp
+++ b/bindings/python/src/bytes.hpp
@@ -9,7 +9,14 @@
 
 struct bytes
 {
+    bytes(char const* s, int len): arr(s, len) {}
     bytes(std::string const& s): arr(s) {}
+#if __cplusplus >= 201103L
+    bytes(std::string&& s): arr(std::move(s)) {}
+    bytes(bytes const&) = default;
+    bytes(bytes&&) = default;
+    bytes& operator=(bytes&&) = default;
+#endif
     bytes() {}
     std::string arr;
 };
diff --git a/bindings/python/src/torrent_info.cpp b/bindings/python/src/torrent_info.cpp
index a7a1f476d..fcdec046d 100644
--- a/bindings/python/src/torrent_info.cpp
+++ b/bindings/python/src/torrent_info.cpp
@@ -90,15 +90,14 @@ namespace
         ti.set_merkle_tree(h);
     }
 
-    std::string hash_for_piece(torrent_info const& ti, int i)
+    bytes hash_for_piece(torrent_info const& ti, int i)
     {
-        return ti.hash_for_piece(i).to_string();
+        return bytes(ti.hash_for_piece(i).to_string());
     }
 
-    std::string metadata(torrent_info const& ti)
+    bytes metadata(torrent_info const& ti)
     {
-        std::string result(ti.metadata().get(), ti.metadata_size());
-        return result;
+        return bytes(ti.metadata().get(), ti.metadata_size());
     }
 
     list map_block(torrent_info& ti, int piece, boost::int64_t offset, int size)
diff --git a/bindings/python/test.py b/bindings/python/test.py
index c7d59640a..bc7f60659 100644
--- a/bindings/python/test.py
+++ b/bindings/python/test.py
@@ -36,6 +36,13 @@ class test_torrent_info(unittest.TestCase):
 		self.assertEqual(f.file_size(0), 1234)
 		self.assertEqual(info.total_size(), 1234)
 
+	def test_metadata(self):
+		shutil.copy(os.path.join('..', '..', 'test', 'test_torrents', 'base.torrent'), '.')
+		ti = lt.torrent_info('base.torrent');
+
+		self.assertTrue(len(ti.metadata()) != 0)
+		self.assertTrue(len(ti.hash_for_piece(0)) != 0)
+
 class test_alerts(unittest.TestCase):
 
 	def test_alert(self):