diff --git a/_pytest/_code/code.py b/_pytest/_code/code.py
index 040e4fc8d..9a6d32665 100644
--- a/_pytest/_code/code.py
+++ b/_pytest/_code/code.py
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ class ExceptionInfo(object):
             if exprinfo is None and isinstance(tup[1], AssertionError):
                 exprinfo = getattr(tup[1], 'msg', None)
                 if exprinfo is None:
-                    exprinfo = str(tup[1])
+                    exprinfo = py._builtin._totext(tup[1])
                 if exprinfo and exprinfo.startswith('assert '):
                     self._striptext = 'AssertionError: '
         self._excinfo = tup
diff --git a/testing/test_assertion.py b/testing/test_assertion.py
index 63d6ac98e..a3a29a76c 100644
--- a/testing/test_assertion.py
+++ b/testing/test_assertion.py
@@ -816,3 +816,12 @@ def test_assert_indirect_tuple_no_warning(testdir):
     result = testdir.runpytest('-rw')
     output = '\n'.join(result.stdout.lines)
     assert 'WR1' not in output
+
+def test_assert_with_unicode(monkeypatch, testdir):
+    testdir.makepyfile(u"""
+        # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+        def test_unicode():
+            assert u'유니코드' == u'Unicode'
+    """)
+    result = testdir.runpytest()
+    result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(['*AssertionError*'])