diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/nmap_bytes_fix.yml b/changelogs/fragments/nmap_bytes_fix.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..309fc1cb15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/nmap_bytes_fix.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - convert input into text to ensure valid comparisons in nmap inventory plugin
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/nmap.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/nmap.py
index f9e709ee64..72f2a140b4 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/nmap.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/nmap.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
 from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleParserError
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native, to_text
 from ansible.plugins.inventory import BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable, Cacheable
 
 
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable, Cacheable):
             ip = None
             ports = []
             for line in stdout.splitlines():
+                line = to_text(line)
                 hits = self.find_host.match(line)
                 if hits:
                     if host is not None: