diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index df235d1d..e77cd948 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ of the following extensions as well:
   e.g. HTTP radio streams and not just ``local:track:...`` URIs. This used to
   work, but was broken in Mopidy 0.15.0. (Fixes: :issue:`527`)
 
+- Fixed crash when playing ``local:track:...`` URIs which contained non-ASCII
+  chars after uridecode.
+
 **MPD frontend**
 
 - Made the formerly unused commands ``outputs``, ``enableoutput``, and
diff --git a/mopidy/backends/local/playback.py b/mopidy/backends/local/playback.py
index eda06ff7..98c92a85 100644
--- a/mopidy/backends/local/playback.py
+++ b/mopidy/backends/local/playback.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ class LocalPlaybackProvider(base.BasePlaybackProvider):
     def change_track(self, track):
         media_dir = self.backend.config['local']['media_dir']
         # TODO: check that type is correct.
-        file_path = path.uri_to_path(track.uri).split(':', 1)[1]
+        file_path = path.uri_to_path(track.uri).split(b':', 1)[1]
         file_path = os.path.join(media_dir, file_path)
         track = track.copy(uri=path.path_to_uri(file_path))
         return super(LocalPlaybackProvider, self).change_track(track)
diff --git a/tests/backends/local/playback_test.py b/tests/backends/local/playback_test.py
index ab135766..8fbc4415 100644
--- a/tests/backends/local/playback_test.py
+++ b/tests/backends/local/playback_test.py
@@ -72,6 +72,14 @@ class LocalPlaybackProviderTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.playback.play()
         self.assertEqual(self.playback.state, PlaybackState.PLAYING)
 
+    def test_play_uri_with_non_ascii_bytes(self):
+        # Regression test: If trying to do .split(u':') on a bytestring, the
+        # string will be decoded from ASCII to Unicode, which will crash on
+        # non-ASCII strings, like the bytestring the following URI decodes to.
+        self.add_track('local:track:12%20Doin%E2%80%99%20It%20Right.flac')
+        self.playback.play()
+        self.assertEqual(self.playback.state, PlaybackState.PLAYING)
+
     def test_initial_state_is_stopped(self):
         self.assertEqual(self.playback.state, PlaybackState.STOPPED)