diff --git a/LXMF/LXMessage.py b/LXMF/LXMessage.py
index baf951a..ba86f4a 100644
--- a/LXMF/LXMessage.py
+++ b/LXMF/LXMessage.py
@@ -784,8 +784,16 @@ class LXMessage:
         message.timestamp   = timestamp
         message.packed      = lxmf_bytes
         message.packed_size = len(lxmf_bytes)
-        message.set_title_from_bytes(title_bytes)
-        message.set_content_from_bytes(content_bytes)
+
+        if type(title_bytes) is bytes:
+            message.set_title_from_bytes(title_bytes)
+        elif type(title_bytes) is str:
+            message.set_title_from_string(title_bytes)
+
+        if type(content_bytes) is bytes:
+            message.set_content_from_bytes(content_bytes)
+        elif type(content_bytes) is str:
+            message.set_content_from_string(content_bytes)
 
         try:
             if source:
@@ -822,4 +830,4 @@ class LXMessage:
             return lxm
         except Exception as e:
             RNS.log("Could not unpack LXMessage from file. The contained exception was: "+str(e), RNS.LOG_ERROR)
-            return None
\ No newline at end of file
+            return None