diff --git a/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py b/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
index 02ab3471c6be1..70c1a8b878f03 100644
--- a/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
+++ b/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
@@ -1993,6 +1993,9 @@ def __unicode__(self):
     def __repr__(self):
         return super(ExtensionArray, self).__repr__()
 
+    def __bytes__(self):
+        return super(ExtensionArray, self).__bytes__()
+
     def _maybe_coerce_indexer(self, indexer):
         """ return an indexer coerced to the codes dtype """
         if isinstance(indexer, np.ndarray) and indexer.dtype.kind == 'i':