diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py
index 723089db88..a69135aecb 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/script.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ from ansible import utils
 from ansible import errors
 import sys
 
+
 class InventoryScript(object):
     ''' Host inventory parser for ansible using external inventory scripts. '''
 
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ class InventoryScript(object):
 
         # not passing from_remote because data from CMDB is trusted
         self.raw  = utils.parse_json(self.data)
+        self.raw  = utils.json_dict_unicode_to_bytes(self.raw)
 
         all       = Group('all')
         groups    = dict(all=all)
@@ -141,7 +143,7 @@ class InventoryScript(object):
         if out.strip() == '':
             return dict()
         try:
-            return utils.parse_json(out)
+            return utils.json_dict_unicode_to_bytes(utils.parse_json(out))
         except ValueError:
             raise errors.AnsibleError("could not parse post variable response: %s, %s" % (cmd, out))
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
index 7a7c94e9f4..195046caf0 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
@@ -1215,6 +1215,25 @@ def to_unicode(value):
         return value
     return value.decode("utf-8")
 
+def json_dict_unicode_to_bytes(d):
+    ''' Recursively convert dict keys and values to byte str
+
+        Specialized for json return because this only handles, lists, tuples,
+        and dict container types (the containers that the json module returns)
+    '''
+
+    if isinstance(d, unicode):
+        return d.encode('utf-8')
+    elif isinstance(d, dict):
+        return dict(map(json_dict_unicode_to_bytes, d.iteritems()))
+    elif isinstance(d, list):
+        return list(map(json_dict_unicode_to_bytes, d))
+    elif isinstance(d, tuple):
+        return tuple(map(json_dict_unicode_to_bytes, d))
+    else:
+        return d
+
+
 def get_diff(diff):
     # called by --diff usage in playbook and runner via callbacks
     # include names in diffs 'before' and 'after' and do diff -U 10