diff --git a/examples/pylab_examples/font_table_ttf.py b/examples/pylab_examples/font_table_ttf.py
index e475d332bb25..fbe5dc1fc985 100755
--- a/examples/pylab_examples/font_table_ttf.py
+++ b/examples/pylab_examples/font_table_ttf.py
@@ -16,11 +16,8 @@
 from matplotlib.font_manager import FontProperties
 from pylab import figure, table, show, axis, title
 
-try:
-    unichr
-except NameError:
-    # Python 3
-    unichr = chr
+import six
+from six import unichr
 
 # the font table grid
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py
index 4840ead4b572..49350e4fdda3 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py
@@ -19,12 +19,9 @@
 import zlib
 
 import numpy as np
+from six import unichr
+from six import BytesIO
 
-if six.PY3:
-    from io import BytesIO
-    unichr = chr
-else:
-    from cStringIO import StringIO as BytesIO
 from datetime import datetime
 from math import ceil, cos, floor, pi, sin
 try:
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4.py
index 70152aac9f47..56cb9101a547 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
                         unicode_literals)
 
 import six
-
+from six import unichr
 import os
 import re
 import signal
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_svg.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_svg.py
index 8cd1682527cb..89e4d5986fb8 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_svg.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_svg.py
@@ -3,8 +3,7 @@
 
 import six
 from six.moves import xrange
-if six.PY3:
-    unichr = chr
+from six import unichr
 
 import os, base64, tempfile, gzip, io, sys, codecs, re
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py b/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py
index c8c8f7d8b0d5..388e209ec32f 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@
 import six
 
 import os, sys
-if six.PY3:
-    unichr = chr
+from six import unichr
 from math import ceil
 try:
     set
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_backend_qt4.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_backend_qt4.py
index 93e2c657a133..5d7fb0593a8f 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_backend_qt4.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_backend_qt4.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
                         unicode_literals)
 
 import six
-
+from six import unichr
 from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
 from matplotlib.testing.decorators import cleanup
 from matplotlib.testing.decorators import knownfailureif
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py b/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py
index f4cc555c638a..fd4bdb97ed61 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/type1font.py
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@
 
 import six
 from six.moves import filter
-if six.PY3:
-    unichr = chr
+from six import unichr
 
 import io
 import itertools