diff --git a/changelog/3583.bugfix.rst b/changelog/3583.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cfa662580
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/3583.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix encoding error with `print` statements in doctests
diff --git a/src/_pytest/doctest.py b/src/_pytest/doctest.py
index 3b58f955f..b0a3ad08d 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/doctest.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/doctest.py
@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@ def _fix_spoof_python2(runner, encoding):
 
         def getvalue(self):
             result = _SpoofOut.getvalue(self)
-            if encoding:
+            if encoding and isinstance(result, bytes):
                 result = result.decode(encoding)
             return result