diff --git a/stdlib/3/_curses.pyi b/stdlib/3/_curses.pyi
index 44cba0985949..153065e90d0f 100644
--- a/stdlib/3/_curses.pyi
+++ b/stdlib/3/_curses.pyi
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ def termname() -> bytes: ...
 def tigetflag(capname: str) -> int: ...
 def tigetnum(capname: str) -> int: ...
 def tigetstr(capname: str) -> bytes: ...
-def tparm(fmt: str, i1: int = ..., i2: int = ..., i3: int = ..., i4: int = ..., i5: int = ..., i6: int = ..., i7: int = ..., i8: int = ..., i9: int = ...) -> str: ...
+def tparm(fmt: bytes, i1: int = ..., i2: int = ..., i3: int = ..., i4: int = ..., i5: int = ..., i6: int = ..., i7: int = ..., i8: int = ..., i9: int = ...) -> bytes: ...
 def typeahead(fd: int) -> None: ...
 def unctrl(ch: _chtype) -> bytes: ...
 def unget_wch(ch: _chtype) -> None: ...