diff --git a/src/authentic2_auth_fedict/adapters.py b/src/authentic2_auth_fedict/adapters.py
index ee72a76..ae556e8 100644
--- a/src/authentic2_auth_fedict/adapters.py
+++ b/src/authentic2_auth_fedict/adapters.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import requests
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.core.files.storage import default_storage
+from django.utils.encoding import force_bytes, force_text
 
 import lasso
 
@@ -59,12 +60,12 @@ class AuthenticAdapter(DefaultAdapter):
             os.makedirs(cache_path)
         for idp in providers:
             if 'METADATA_URL' in idp and 'METADATA' not in idp:
-                url_hash = hashlib.sha1(idp['METADATA_URL']).hexdigest()
+                url_hash = hashlib.sha1(force_bytes(idp['METADATA_URL'])).hexdigest()
                 metadata_cache_filename = os.path.join(cache_path, url_hash)
                 if os.path.exists(metadata_cache_filename):
                     stat_info = os.stat(metadata_cache_filename)
                     if stat_info.st_size and stat_info.st_mtime > (time.time() - 86400):
-                        idp['METADATA'] = open(metadata_cache_filename).read().decode('utf-8')
+                        idp['METADATA'] = force_text(open(metadata_cache_filename).read())
                         continue
                 verify_ssl_certificate = mellon_utils.get_setting(idp, 'VERIFY_SSL_CERTIFICATE')
                 try:
@@ -73,11 +74,11 @@ class AuthenticAdapter(DefaultAdapter):
                 except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
                     if os.path.exists(metadata_cache_filename):
                         # accept older cache in case of error
-                        idp['METADATA'] = open(metadata_cache_filename).read().decode('utf-8')
+                        idp['METADATA'] = force_text(open(metadata_cache_filename).read())
                     continue
                 idp['METADATA'] = response.text
-                with open(metadata_cache_filename, 'w') as fd:
-                    fd.write(response.text.encode('utf-8'))
+                with open(metadata_cache_filename, 'wb') as fd:
+                    fd.write(response.content)
         return providers
 
     def lookup_user(self, idp, saml_attributes):