diff --git a/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py b/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py
index 2839207ab..565cef2b8 100644
--- a/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py
+++ b/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ import shutil
 import sys
 import traceback
 import simplejson as json
-import urlparse
+
+from six.moves import urllib_parse as urlparse
+from six import string_types
 
 from twisted.web.server import NOT_DONE_YET
 from twisted.internet import defer
@@ -590,8 +592,8 @@ def _iterate_over_text(tree, *tags_to_ignore):
     # to be returned.
     elements = iter([tree])
     while True:
-        el = elements.next()
-        if isinstance(el, basestring):
+        el = next(elements)
+        if isinstance(el, string_types):
             yield el
         elif el is not None and el.tag not in tags_to_ignore:
             # el.text is the text before the first child, so we can immediately
diff --git a/synapse/storage/_base.py b/synapse/storage/_base.py
index 2262776ab..962cc270b 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/_base.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/_base.py
@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ import threading
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+try:
+    MAX_TXN_ID = sys.maxint - 1
+except AttributeError:
+    # python 3 does not have a maximum int value
+    MAX_TXN_ID = 2**63 - 1
+
 sql_logger = logging.getLogger("synapse.storage.SQL")
 transaction_logger = logging.getLogger("synapse.storage.txn")
 perf_logger = logging.getLogger("synapse.storage.TIME")
@@ -222,7 +228,7 @@ class SQLBaseStore(object):
 
         # We don't really need these to be unique, so lets stop it from
         # growing really large.
-        self._TXN_ID = (self._TXN_ID + 1) % (sys.maxint - 1)
+        self._TXN_ID = (self._TXN_ID + 1) % (MAX_TXN_ID)
 
         name = "%s-%x" % (desc, txn_id, )
 
diff --git a/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py b/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py
index 4adae9668..329ccbb86 100644
--- a/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@
 import synapse.metrics
 import os
 
+from six.moves import intern
+import six
+
 CACHE_SIZE_FACTOR = float(os.environ.get("SYNAPSE_CACHE_FACTOR", 0.5))
 
 metrics = synapse.metrics.get_metrics_for("synapse.util.caches")
@@ -66,7 +69,9 @@ def intern_string(string):
         return None
 
     try:
-        string = string.encode("ascii")
+        if six.PY2:
+            string = string.encode("ascii")
+
         return intern(string)
     except UnicodeEncodeError:
         return string