diff --git a/scrapy/utils/ssl.py b/scrapy/utils/ssl.py
index 98efd91c7..ce211bf9b 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/ssl.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/ssl.py
@@ -47,5 +47,7 @@ def get_temp_key_info(ssl_object):
 
 
 def get_openssl_version():
-    system_openssl = OpenSSL.SSL.SSLeay_version(OpenSSL.SSL.SSLEAY_VERSION)
+    system_openssl = OpenSSL.SSL.SSLeay_version(
+        OpenSSL.SSL.SSLEAY_VERSION
+    ).decode('ascii', errors='replace')
     return f'{OpenSSL.version.__version__} ({system_openssl})'