diff --git a/bin/packages/Item.py b/bin/packages/Item.py
index 8331a33a..9c0302a6 100755
--- a/bin/packages/Item.py
+++ b/bin/packages/Item.py
@@ -226,17 +226,17 @@ def get_item(request_dict):
 
 # API as txt
 def get_item_as_txt(request_dict):
+    item_id = request_dict.get('id', None)
+
     if not request_dict:
         return {'status': 'error', 'reason': 'Malformed JSON'}, 400
-    item_id = request_dict.get('id', None)
     if not item_id:
         return {'status': 'error', 'reason': 'Mandatory parameter(s) not provided'}, 400
     if not exist_item(item_id):
         return {'status': 'error', 'reason': 'Item not found'}, 404
 
     item_content = get_item_content(item_id)
-    encoded_item_content = item_content.encode("UTF-8")
-    base64_output = base64.b64encode(encoded_item_content)
+    base64_output = base64.b64encode(item_content)
     dict_item = {'id': item_id, 'content': base64_output}
 
     return dict_item, 200