diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
index 0c8281b899bc..68b85ca306bc 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
@@ -1154,12 +1154,11 @@ def print_figure_impl(fh):
                     xpdf_distill(tmpfile, isEPSF, ptype=papertype, bbox=bbox)
 
                 if passed_in_file_object:
-                    if file_requires_unicode(outfile):
-                        with io.open(tmpfile, 'rb') as fh:
-                            outfile.write(fh.read().decode('latin-1'))
-                    else:
-                        with io.open(tmpfile, 'rb') as fh:
-                            outfile.write(fh.read())
+                    fh = (io.open(tmpfile, 'r', encoding='latin-1')
+                          if file_requires_unicode(outfile)
+                          else io.open(tmpfile, 'rb'))
+                    with fh:
+                        shutil.copyfileobj(fh, outfile)
                 else:
                     with io.open(outfile, 'w') as fh:
                         pass
@@ -1354,12 +1353,10 @@ def write(self, *kl, **kwargs):
                              rotated=psfrag_rotated)
 
             if is_writable_file_like(outfile):
-                if file_requires_unicode(outfile):
-                    with io.open(tmpfile, 'rb') as fh:
-                        outfile.write(fh.read().decode('latin-1'))
-                else:
-                    with io.open(tmpfile, 'rb') as fh:
-                        outfile.write(fh.read())
+                with (io.open(tmpfile, 'r', encoding='latin-1')
+                        if file_requires_unicode(outfile)
+                        else io.open(tmpfile, 'rb')) as fh:
+                    shutil.copyfileobj(fh, outfile)
             else:
                 with io.open(outfile, 'wb') as fh:
                     pass
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/fontconfig_pattern.py b/lib/matplotlib/fontconfig_pattern.py
index d1eda70d8ef4..5104c25d3623 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/fontconfig_pattern.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/fontconfig_pattern.py
@@ -8,13 +8,10 @@
 
 # This class is defined here because it must be available in:
 #   - The old-style config framework (:file:`rcsetup.py`)
-#   - The traits-based config framework (:file:`mpltraits.py`)
 #   - The font manager (:file:`font_manager.py`)
 
-# It probably logically belongs in :file:`font_manager.py`, but
-# placing it in any of these places would have created cyclical
-# dependency problems, or an undesired dependency on traits even
-# when the traits-based config framework is not used.
+# It probably logically belongs in :file:`font_manager.py`, but placing it
+# there would have created cyclical dependency problems.
 
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
                         unicode_literals)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py b/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py
index 966761f177e0..de6c030299bf 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ def italicangle(angle):
                     .encode('ascii'))
 
         def fontmatrix(array):
-            array = array.lstrip(b'[').rstrip(b']').strip().split()
+            array = array.lstrip(b'[').rstrip(b']').split()
             array = [float(x) for x in array]
             oldmatrix = np.eye(3, 3)
             oldmatrix[0:3, 0] = array[::2]