diff --git a/tests/tools/test_skills_hub.py b/tests/tools/test_skills_hub.py
index 8e3453c04d8e..b955384f3c6e 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_skills_hub.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_skills_hub.py
@@ -901,6 +901,17 @@ def test_bundle_content_hash_matches_installed_content_hash(self, tmp_path):
 
         assert bundle_content_hash(bundle) == content_hash(skill_dir)
 
+    def test_bundle_content_hash_accepts_bytes_file_content(self):
+        bundle = SkillBundle(
+            name="demo-skill",
+            files={"SKILL.md": b"same content"},
+            source="github",
+            identifier="owner/repo/demo-skill",
+            trust_level="community",
+        )
+
+        assert bundle_content_hash(bundle) == "sha256:a636bd7cd42060a4"
+
     def test_reports_update_when_remote_hash_differs(self):
         lock = MagicMock()
         lock.list_installed.return_value = [{
diff --git a/tools/skills_hub.py b/tools/skills_hub.py
index 0ce1d9b34e3b..aaeabd2c289b 100644
--- a/tools/skills_hub.py
+++ b/tools/skills_hub.py
@@ -2801,7 +2801,11 @@ def bundle_content_hash(bundle: SkillBundle) -> str:
     """Compute a deterministic hash for an in-memory skill bundle."""
     h = hashlib.sha256()
     for rel_path in sorted(bundle.files):
-        h.update(bundle.files[rel_path].encode("utf-8"))
+        content = bundle.files[rel_path]
+        if isinstance(content, bytes):
+            h.update(content)
+        else:
+            h.update(content.encode("utf-8"))
     return f"sha256:{h.hexdigest()[:16]}"