diff --git a/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py b/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py
index 6e0f079de7..887f8a0b72 100644
--- a/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py
+++ b/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py
@@ -12,9 +12,11 @@ from django.template.base import TemplateDoesNotExist
 from django.template.loader import BaseLoader
 from django.utils._os import safe_join
 from django.utils.importlib import import_module
+from django.utils import six
 
 # At compile time, cache the directories to search.
-fs_encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding() or sys.getdefaultencoding()
+if not six.PY3:
+    fs_encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding() or sys.getdefaultencoding()
 app_template_dirs = []
 for app in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
     try:
@@ -23,7 +25,9 @@ for app in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
         raise ImproperlyConfigured('ImportError %s: %s' % (app, e.args[0]))
     template_dir = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(mod.__file__), 'templates')
     if os.path.isdir(template_dir):
-        app_template_dirs.append(template_dir.decode(fs_encoding))
+        if not six.PY3:
+            template_dir = template_dir.decode(fs_encoding)
+        app_template_dirs.append(template_dir)
 
 # It won't change, so convert it to a tuple to save memory.
 app_template_dirs = tuple(app_template_dirs)