TypeError: Unicode-objects must be encoded before hashing

TypeError: Unicode-objects must be encoded before hashing

TL;DR: bcrypt wants bytes, you gave it str. Call .encode() on the password before hashpw or checkpw and the error goes away.

TypeError: Unicode-objects must be encoded before hashing

The fix

import bcrypt
hashed = bcrypt.hashpw(password.encode(), bcrypt.gensalt())
ok = bcrypt.checkpw(password.encode(), hashed)

Verify:

python -c "import bcrypt; h=bcrypt.hashpw('pw'.encode(), bcrypt.gensalt()); print(bcrypt.checkpw('pw'.encode(), h))"

Expected output: True.

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When this applies

• Passwords arrive as str from a form, JSON body, or input().
• The traceback points at hashpw or checkpw with a str argument.
• First-time bcrypt users in any web framework.

When it does NOT apply

• Invalid salt, which is a bad stored hash.
• password cannot be longer than 72 bytes, which is the length rule.

Why this happens

Hashing is defined over bytes. bcrypt refuses to guess an encoding for you (UTF-8 today, something else tomorrow would silently change every hash), so it raises instead. Encoding explicitly at the boundary keeps hashes reproducible across systems.

Compatibility

All bcrypt versions. UTF-8 via .encode() is the standard choice; just be consistent between hashing and verifying.

bcrypt operates on bytes, not str, so every bcrypt function rejects text input with TypeError: Unicode-objects must be encoded before hashing. This is probably the single most hit bcrypt error for beginners, since web frameworks hand you str passwords and the fix is a single .encode() call. The rule is simple: encode on the way in for both hashpw and checkpw, and keep everything bytes on the bcrypt side of the boundary.