diff --git a/mercurial/revlog.py b/mercurial/revlog.py
--- a/mercurial/revlog.py
+++ b/mercurial/revlog.py
@@ -3250,7 +3250,7 @@
                     # rewriting entries that already have sidedata is not
                     # supported yet, because it introduces garbage data in the
                     # revlog.
-                    msg = "Rewriting existing sidedata is not supported yet"
+                    msg = b"Rewriting existing sidedata is not supported yet"
                     raise error.Abort(msg)
                 entry = entry[:8]
                 entry += (current_offset, len(serialized_sidedata))