diff --git a/django_mailbox/tests/base.py b/django_mailbox/tests/base.py
index f786b41..337cf30 100644
--- a/django_mailbox/tests/base.py
+++ b/django_mailbox/tests/base.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import email
 import os
 from os.path import dirname, join
 import time
+import six
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.test import TestCase
@@ -59,7 +60,10 @@ class EmailMessageTestCase(TestCase):
 
     def _get_email_object(self, name):
         with open(join(dirname(__file__), 'messages', name), 'rb') as f:
-            return email.message_from_file(f)
+            if six.PY3:
+                return email.message_from_binary_file(f)
+            else:
+                return email.message_from_file(f)
 
     def _headers_identical(self, left, right, header=None):
         """ Check if headers are (close enough to) identical.