diff --git a/tools/binman/cbfs_util_test.py b/tools/binman/cbfs_util_test.py
index 772c794ece..ddc2e09e35 100755
--- a/tools/binman/cbfs_util_test.py
+++ b/tools/binman/cbfs_util_test.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ class TestCbfs(unittest.TestCase):
         cls.have_lz4 = True
         try:
             tools.Run('lz4', '--no-frame-crc', '-c',
-                      tools.GetInputFilename('u-boot.bin'))
+                      tools.GetInputFilename('u-boot.bin'), binary=True)
         except:
             cls.have_lz4 = False
 
diff --git a/tools/binman/ftest.py b/tools/binman/ftest.py
index 7000de9d42..88daaf20a8 100644
--- a/tools/binman/ftest.py
+++ b/tools/binman/ftest.py
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ class TestFunctional(unittest.TestCase):
         cls.have_lz4 = True
         try:
             tools.Run('lz4', '--no-frame-crc', '-c',
-                      os.path.join(cls._indir, 'u-boot.bin'))
+                      os.path.join(cls._indir, 'u-boot.bin'), binary=True)
         except:
             cls.have_lz4 = False
 
diff --git a/tools/patman/command.py b/tools/patman/command.py
index 16299f3f5b..5fbd2c4a3e 100644
--- a/tools/patman/command.py
+++ b/tools/patman/command.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 import os
 import cros_subprocess
+import tools
 
 """Shell command ease-ups for Python."""
 
@@ -31,6 +32,13 @@ class CommandResult:
         self.return_code = return_code
         self.exception = exception
 
+    def ToOutput(self, binary):
+        if not binary:
+            self.stdout = tools.ToString(self.stdout)
+            self.stderr = tools.ToString(self.stderr)
+            self.combined = tools.ToString(self.combined)
+        return self
+
 
 # This permits interception of RunPipe for test purposes. If it is set to
 # a function, then that function is called with the pipe list being
@@ -41,7 +49,7 @@ test_result = None
 
 def RunPipe(pipe_list, infile=None, outfile=None,
             capture=False, capture_stderr=False, oneline=False,
-            raise_on_error=True, cwd=None, **kwargs):
+            raise_on_error=True, cwd=None, binary=False, **kwargs):
     """
     Perform a command pipeline, with optional input/output filenames.
 
@@ -67,7 +75,7 @@ def RunPipe(pipe_list, infile=None, outfile=None,
         else:
             return test_result
         # No result: fall through to normal processing
-    result = CommandResult()
+    result = CommandResult(b'', b'', b'')
     last_pipe = None
     pipeline = list(pipe_list)
     user_pipestr =  '|'.join([' '.join(pipe) for pipe in pipe_list])
@@ -93,29 +101,36 @@ def RunPipe(pipe_list, infile=None, outfile=None,
             if raise_on_error:
                 raise Exception("Error running '%s': %s" % (user_pipestr, str))
             result.return_code = 255
-            return result
+            return result.ToOutput(binary)
 
     if capture:
         result.stdout, result.stderr, result.combined = (
                 last_pipe.CommunicateFilter(None))
         if result.stdout and oneline:
-            result.output = result.stdout.rstrip('\r\n')
+            result.output = result.stdout.rstrip(b'\r\n')
         result.return_code = last_pipe.wait()
     else:
         result.return_code = os.waitpid(last_pipe.pid, 0)[1]
     if raise_on_error and result.return_code:
         raise Exception("Error running '%s'" % user_pipestr)
-    return result
+    return result.ToOutput(binary)
 
 def Output(*cmd, **kwargs):
     kwargs['raise_on_error'] = kwargs.get('raise_on_error', True)
     return RunPipe([cmd], capture=True, **kwargs).stdout
 
 def OutputOneLine(*cmd, **kwargs):
+    """Run a command and output it as a single-line string
+
+    The command us expected to produce a single line of output
+
+    Returns:
+        String containing output of command
+    """
     raise_on_error = kwargs.pop('raise_on_error', True)
-    return (RunPipe([cmd], capture=True, oneline=True,
-            raise_on_error=raise_on_error,
-            **kwargs).stdout.strip())
+    result = RunPipe([cmd], capture=True, oneline=True,
+                     raise_on_error=raise_on_error, **kwargs).stdout.strip()
+    return result
 
 def Run(*cmd, **kwargs):
     return RunPipe([cmd], **kwargs).stdout
diff --git a/tools/patman/tools.py b/tools/patman/tools.py
index 4a7fcdad21..3feddb292f 100644
--- a/tools/patman/tools.py
+++ b/tools/patman/tools.py
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ def PathHasFile(path_spec, fname):
             return True
     return False
 
-def Run(name, *args):
+def Run(name, *args, **kwargs):
     """Run a tool with some arguments
 
     This runs a 'tool', which is a program used by binman to process files and
@@ -201,13 +201,14 @@ def Run(name, *args):
         CommandResult object
     """
     try:
+        binary = kwargs.get('binary')
         env = None
         if tool_search_paths:
             env = dict(os.environ)
             env['PATH'] = ':'.join(tool_search_paths) + ':' + env['PATH']
         all_args = (name,) + args
         result = command.RunPipe([all_args], capture=True, capture_stderr=True,
-                                 env=env, raise_on_error=False)
+                                 env=env, raise_on_error=False, binary=binary)
         if result.return_code:
             raise Exception("Error %d running '%s': %s" %
                (result.return_code,' '.join(all_args),
@@ -375,7 +376,7 @@ def ToBytes(string):
     """Convert a str type into a bytes type
 
     Args:
-        string: string to convert value
+        string: string to convert
 
     Returns:
         Python 3: A bytes type
@@ -385,6 +386,18 @@ def ToBytes(string):
         return string.encode('utf-8')
     return string
 
+def ToString(bval):
+    """Convert a bytes type into a str type
+
+    Args:
+        bval: bytes value to convert
+
+    Returns:
+        Python 3: A bytes type
+        Python 2: A string type
+    """
+    return bval.decode('utf-8')
+
 def Compress(indata, algo, with_header=True):
     """Compress some data using a given algorithm
 
@@ -406,14 +419,14 @@ def Compress(indata, algo, with_header=True):
     fname = GetOutputFilename('%s.comp.tmp' % algo)
     WriteFile(fname, indata)
     if algo == 'lz4':
-        data = Run('lz4', '--no-frame-crc', '-c', fname)
+        data = Run('lz4', '--no-frame-crc', '-c', fname, binary=True)
     # cbfstool uses a very old version of lzma
     elif algo == 'lzma':
         outfname = GetOutputFilename('%s.comp.otmp' % algo)
         Run('lzma_alone', 'e', fname, outfname, '-lc1', '-lp0', '-pb0', '-d8')
         data = ReadFile(outfname)
     elif algo == 'gzip':
-        data = Run('gzip', '-c', fname)
+        data = Run('gzip', '-c', fname, binary=True)
     else:
         raise ValueError("Unknown algorithm '%s'" % algo)
     if with_header:
@@ -446,13 +459,13 @@ def Decompress(indata, algo, with_header=True):
     with open(fname, 'wb') as fd:
         fd.write(indata)
     if algo == 'lz4':
-        data = Run('lz4', '-dc', fname)
+        data = Run('lz4', '-dc', fname, binary=True)
     elif algo == 'lzma':
         outfname = GetOutputFilename('%s.decomp.otmp' % algo)
         Run('lzma_alone', 'd', fname, outfname)
-        data = ReadFile(outfname)
+        data = ReadFile(outfname, binary=True)
     elif algo == 'gzip':
-        data = Run('gzip', '-cd', fname)
+        data = Run('gzip', '-cd', fname, binary=True)
     else:
         raise ValueError("Unknown algorithm '%s'" % algo)
     return data
