diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 15a480dda..791dce468 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -7,11 +7,13 @@ Version 0.15.dev0
 Bug fixes:
 
 * Fix tempo handling of multi-track MIDI files (#219)
+* Fix error loading unicode filenames (#223)
 
 Other changes:
 
 * `num_threads` is passed to `ParallelProcessor` in single mode (#217)
-* use `install_requires` in `setup.py` to specify dependencies (#226)
+* Use `install_requires` in `setup.py` to specify dependencies (#226)
+
 
 Version 0.14.1 (release date: 2016-08-01)
 -----------------------------------------
diff --git a/madmom/audio/signal.py b/madmom/audio/signal.py
index 1d10c6713..08dc71da0 100644
--- a/madmom/audio/signal.py
+++ b/madmom/audio/signal.py
@@ -556,11 +556,13 @@ def load_audio_file(filename, sample_rate=None, num_channels=None, start=None,
     from .ffmpeg import load_ffmpeg_file
 
     # determine the name of the file if it is a file handle
-    if not isinstance(filename, str):
+    try:
         # close the file handle if it is open
         filename.close()
         # use the file name
         filename = filename.name
+    except AttributeError:
+        pass
     # try reading as a wave file
     error = "All attempts to load audio file %r failed." % filename
     try:
diff --git a/madmom/processors.py b/madmom/processors.py
index ce5fc5b98..966481af9 100644
--- a/madmom/processors.py
+++ b/madmom/processors.py
@@ -51,9 +51,11 @@ def load(cls, infile):
         """
         import pickle
         # close the open file if needed and use its name
-        if not isinstance(infile, str):
+        try:
             infile.close()
             infile = infile.name
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
         # instantiate a new Processor and return it
         with open(infile, 'rb') as f:
             # Python 2 and 3 behave differently
@@ -87,9 +89,11 @@ def dump(self, outfile):
         """
         import pickle
         # close the open file if needed and use its name
-        if not isinstance(outfile, str):
+        try:
             outfile.close()
             outfile = outfile.name
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
         # dump the Processor to the given file
         # Note: for Python 2 / 3 compatibility reason use protocol 2
         pickle.dump(self, open(outfile, 'wb'), protocol=2)
diff --git a/tests/test_audio_signal.py b/tests/test_audio_signal.py
index dcabe5359..6e269ef4d 100644
--- a/tests/test_audio_signal.py
+++ b/tests/test_audio_signal.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import tempfile
 import unittest
 from os.path import join as pj
+import sys
 
 from . import AUDIO_PATH, DATA_PATH
 from .test_audio_comb_filters import sig_1d, sig_2d
@@ -723,6 +724,9 @@ def test_types(self):
         self.assertIsInstance(signal, np.ndarray)
         self.assertTrue(signal.dtype == np.int16)
         self.assertTrue(type(sample_rate) == int)
+        if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
+            # test unicode string type (Python 2 only)
+            signal, sample_rate = load_audio_file(unicode(sample_file))
 
     def test_file_handle(self):
         # test wave loader
diff --git a/tests/test_processors.py b/tests/test_processors.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2a3dfd82a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_processors.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+# pylint: skip-file
+"""
+This file contains tests for the madmom.processors module.
+
+"""
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+import sys
+
+from madmom.models import *
+from madmom.ml.nn import NeuralNetwork
+
+tmp_file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False).name
+
+
+class TestProcessor(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_unicode(self):
+        if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
+            # load from unicode string
+            rnn = NeuralNetwork.load(unicode(ONSETS_RNN[0]))
+            # save to unicode string
+            rnn.dump(unicode(tmp_file))
+
+
+# clean up
+def teardown():
+    import os
+    os.unlink(tmp_file)