diff --git a/smach_viewer/src/smach_viewer/smach_viewer_base.py b/smach_viewer/src/smach_viewer/smach_viewer_base.py
index 02d6921..71a5ae7 100644
--- a/smach_viewer/src/smach_viewer/smach_viewer_base.py
+++ b/smach_viewer/src/smach_viewer/smach_viewer_base.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import threading
 
+import base64
 import pickle
 import roslib
 import rospy
@@ -72,8 +73,7 @@ def update_structure(self, msg):
     def _load_local_data(self, msg):
         """Unpack the user data"""
         if sys.version_info.major >= 3:
-            local_data = pickle.loads(
-                msg.local_data.encode('utf-8'), encoding='utf-8')
+            local_data = pickle.loads(base64.b64decode(msg.local_data))
         else:
             local_data = pickle.loads(msg.local_data)
         return local_data