diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
index c58ff927a604..686c9924aea1 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
@@ -972,7 +972,7 @@ def _print_figure(
         isEPSF = format == 'eps'
         if isinstance(outfile, (str, getattr(os, "PathLike", ()),)):
             outfile = title = getattr(os, "fspath", lambda obj: obj)(outfile)
-            title = title.encode("latin-1", "replace").decode()
+            title = title.encode("latin-1", "replace").decode("latin-1")
             passed_in_file_object = False
         elif is_writable_file_like(outfile):
             title = None