diff --git a/qiskit_ibm_runtime/runtime_job.py b/qiskit_ibm_runtime/runtime_job.py
index 80b77f3f50..297933ef6c 100644
--- a/qiskit_ibm_runtime/runtime_job.py
+++ b/qiskit_ibm_runtime/runtime_job.py
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ def _download_external_result(self, response: Any) -> Any:
             if "url" in result_url_json:
                 url = result_url_json["url"]
                 result_response = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
-                return result_response.content
+                return result_response.text
             return response
         except json.JSONDecodeError:
             return response
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/byte-result-bug-7afb5abe813f5b1b.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/byte-result-bug-7afb5abe813f5b1b.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66e9d3c317
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/byte-result-bug-7afb5abe813f5b1b.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixed an issue where canceled and failed jobs would return an invalid result that
+    resulted in a type error, preventing the actual error from being returned
+    to the user.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/unit/test_jobs.py b/test/unit/test_jobs.py
index 54684ecaa0..af28cadfb6 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_jobs.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_jobs.py
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ def test_download_external_job_result(self, service):
             job = run_program(service=service)
             with mock_wait_for_final_state(service, job):
                 mock_response = MagicMock()
-                mock_response.content = "content-from-external-url"
+                mock_response.text = "content-from-external-url"
                 request_mock.get.return_value = mock_response
                 with mock_wait_for_final_state(service, job):
                     job.wait_for_final_state()