diff --git a/slixmpp/basexmpp.py b/slixmpp/basexmpp.py
index 0b133f6d..b15354c9 100644
--- a/slixmpp/basexmpp.py
+++ b/slixmpp/basexmpp.py
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@
     :license: MIT, see LICENSE for more details
 """
 
-from __future__ import with_statement, unicode_literals
-
-import sys
 import logging
 import threading
 
@@ -38,13 +35,6 @@ from slixmpp.plugins import PluginManager, load_plugin
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-# In order to make sure that Unicode is handled properly
-# in Python 2.x, reset the default encoding.
-if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-    from slixmpp.util.misc_ops import setdefaultencoding
-    setdefaultencoding('utf8')
-
-
 class BaseXMPP(XMLStream):
 
     """
diff --git a/slixmpp/clientxmpp.py b/slixmpp/clientxmpp.py
index 66a846d3..86d764f4 100644
--- a/slixmpp/clientxmpp.py
+++ b/slixmpp/clientxmpp.py
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
     :license: MIT, see LICENSE for more details
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
-
 import logging
 
 from slixmpp.stanza import StreamFeatures
diff --git a/slixmpp/componentxmpp.py b/slixmpp/componentxmpp.py
index 52829dfa..b00e084e 100644
--- a/slixmpp/componentxmpp.py
+++ b/slixmpp/componentxmpp.py
@@ -12,10 +12,7 @@
     :license: MIT, see LICENSE for more details
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import
-
 import logging
-import sys
 import hashlib
 
 from slixmpp.basexmpp import BaseXMPP
@@ -136,10 +133,7 @@ class ComponentXMPP(BaseXMPP):
 
         # Construct a hash of the stream ID and the component secret.
         sid = xml.get('id', '')
-        pre_hash = '%s%s' % (sid, self.secret)
-        if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
-            # Handle Unicode byte encoding in Python 3.
-            pre_hash = bytes(pre_hash, 'utf-8')
+        pre_hash = bytes('%s%s' % (sid, self.secret), 'utf-8')
 
         handshake = ET.Element('{jabber:component:accept}handshake')
         handshake.text = hashlib.sha1(pre_hash).hexdigest().lower()
diff --git a/slixmpp/plugins/base.py b/slixmpp/plugins/base.py
index 9694a414..d3f751fb 100644
--- a/slixmpp/plugins/base.py
+++ b/slixmpp/plugins/base.py
@@ -19,10 +19,6 @@ import logging
 import threading
 
 
-if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
-    unicode = str
-
-
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -89,7 +85,7 @@ def load_plugin(name, module=None):
                 module = 'slixmpp.features.%s' % name
                 __import__(module)
                 mod = sys.modules[module]
-        elif isinstance(module, (str, unicode)):
+        elif isinstance(module, str):
             __import__(module)
             mod = sys.modules[module]
         else:
diff --git a/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0009/binding.py b/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0009/binding.py
index 5416fc41..d922dfc7 100644
--- a/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0009/binding.py
+++ b/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0009/binding.py
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@ from slixmpp.xmlstream import ET
 import base64
 import logging
 import time
-import sys
-
-if sys.version_info > (3, 0):
-    unicode = str
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -58,7 +54,7 @@ def _py2xml(*args):
             boolean = ET.Element("{%s}boolean" % _namespace)
             boolean.text = str(int(x))
             val.append(boolean)
-        elif type(x) in (str, unicode):
+        elif type(x) is str:
             string = ET.Element("{%s}string" % _namespace)
             string.text = x
             val.append(string)
@@ -156,7 +152,7 @@ class rpctime(object):
 
     def __init__(self,data=None):
         #assume string data is in iso format YYYYMMDDTHH:MM:SS
-        if type(data) in (str, unicode):
+        if type(data) is str:
             self.timestamp = time.strptime(data,"%Y%m%dT%H:%M:%S")
         elif type(data) is time.struct_time:
             self.timestamp = data
diff --git a/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0078/legacyauth.py b/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0078/legacyauth.py
index 9c49d346..0bcfb3d0 100644
--- a/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0078/legacyauth.py
+++ b/slixmpp/plugins/xep_0078/legacyauth.py
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
 import uuid
 import logging
 import hashlib
-import random
-import sys
 
 from slixmpp.jid import JID
 from slixmpp.exceptions import IqError, IqTimeout
@@ -105,12 +103,8 @@ class XEP_0078(BasePlugin):
 
         if 'digest' in resp['auth']['fields']:
             log.debug('Authenticating via jabber:iq:auth Digest')
-            if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-                stream_id = bytes(self.xmpp.stream_id)
-                password = bytes(self.xmpp.password)
-            else:
-                stream_id = bytes(self.xmpp.stream_id, encoding='utf-8')
-                password = bytes(self.xmpp.password, encoding='utf-8')
+            stream_id = bytes(self.xmpp.stream_id, encoding='utf-8')
+            password = bytes(self.xmpp.password, encoding='utf-8')
 
             digest = hashlib.sha1(b'%s%s' % (stream_id, password)).hexdigest()
             iq['auth']['digest'] = digest
diff --git a/slixmpp/util/__init__.py b/slixmpp/util/__init__.py
index 0a57baf3..b4243e83 100644
--- a/slixmpp/util/__init__.py
+++ b/slixmpp/util/__init__.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 from slixmpp.util.misc_ops import bytes, unicode, hashes, hash, \
                                     num_to_bytes, bytes_to_num, quote, \
-                                    XOR, safedict
+                                    XOR
 
 
 # =====================================================================
diff --git a/slixmpp/util/misc_ops.py b/slixmpp/util/misc_ops.py
index 18c919a8..2e661045 100644
--- a/slixmpp/util/misc_ops.py
+++ b/slixmpp/util/misc_ops.py
@@ -3,12 +3,7 @@ import hashlib
 
 
 def unicode(text):
-    if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-        if isinstance(text, str):
-            text = text.decode('utf-8')
-        import __builtin__
-        return __builtin__.unicode(text)
-    elif not isinstance(text, str):
+    if not isinstance(text, str):
         return text.decode('utf-8')
     else:
         return text
@@ -27,20 +22,16 @@ def bytes(text):
     if text is None:
         return b''
 
-    if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-        import __builtin__
-        return __builtin__.bytes(text)
+    import builtins
+    if isinstance(text, builtins.bytes):
+        # We already have bytes, so do nothing
+        return text
+    if isinstance(text, list):
+        # Convert a list of integers to bytes
+        return builtins.bytes(text)
     else:
-        import builtins
-        if isinstance(text, builtins.bytes):
-            # We already have bytes, so do nothing
-            return text
-        if isinstance(text, list):
-            # Convert a list of integers to bytes
-            return builtins.bytes(text)
-        else:
-            # Convert UTF-8 text to bytes
-            return builtins.bytes(text, encoding='utf-8')
+        # Convert UTF-8 text to bytes
+        return builtins.bytes(text, encoding='utf-8')
 
 
 def quote(text):
@@ -91,10 +82,7 @@ def XOR(x, y):
     """
     result = b''
     for a, b in zip(x, y):
-        if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-            result += chr((ord(a) ^ ord(b)))
-        else:
-            result += bytes([a ^ b])
+        result += bytes([a ^ b])
     return result
 
 
@@ -153,13 +141,3 @@ def setdefaultencoding(encoding):
             raise RuntimeError("Could not find setdefaultencoding")
         sys.setdefaultencoding = func
     return func(encoding)
-
-
-def safedict(data):
-    if sys.version_info < (2, 7):
-        safe = {}
-        for key in data:
-            safe[key.encode('utf8')] = data[key]
-        return safe
-    else:
-        return data
diff --git a/slixmpp/util/sasl/mechanisms.py b/slixmpp/util/sasl/mechanisms.py
index b417fb46..de0203c0 100644
--- a/slixmpp/util/sasl/mechanisms.py
+++ b/slixmpp/util/sasl/mechanisms.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
     :license: MIT, see LICENSE for more details
 """
 
-import sys
 import hmac
 import random
 
@@ -365,8 +364,7 @@ class DIGEST(Mech):
 
 
         for char in challenge:
-            if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
-                char = bytes([char])
+            char = bytes([char])
 
             if state == 'var':
                 if char.isspace():
diff --git a/slixmpp/xmlstream/tostring.py b/slixmpp/xmlstream/tostring.py
index c1e4911a..2d99e323 100644
--- a/slixmpp/xmlstream/tostring.py
+++ b/slixmpp/xmlstream/tostring.py
@@ -13,14 +13,6 @@
     :license: MIT, see LICENSE for more details
 """
 
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
-
-import sys
-
-if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-    import types
-
-
 XML_NS = 'http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace'
 
 
@@ -145,10 +137,6 @@ def escape(text, use_cdata=False):
     :param string text: The XML text to convert.
     :rtype: Unicode string
     """
-    if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-        if type(text) != types.UnicodeType:
-            text = unicode(text, 'utf-8', 'ignore')
-
     escapes = {'&': '&amp;',
                '<': '&lt;',
                '>': '&gt;',
diff --git a/slixmpp/xmlstream/xmlstream.py b/slixmpp/xmlstream/xmlstream.py
index 13e88428..92f5c6d3 100644
--- a/slixmpp/xmlstream/xmlstream.py
+++ b/slixmpp/xmlstream/xmlstream.py
@@ -12,32 +12,19 @@
     :license: MIT, see LICENSE for more details
 """
 
-from __future__ import with_statement, unicode_literals
-
 import asyncio
 import functools
-import base64
 import copy
 import logging
-import signal
 import socket as Socket
 import ssl
-import sys
-import time
-import random
 import weakref
 import uuid
-import errno
 
-from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError
 import xml.etree.ElementTree
 
-import slixmpp
-from slixmpp.util import Queue, QueueEmpty, safedict
-from slixmpp.xmlstream import tostring, cert
-from slixmpp.xmlstream.stanzabase import StanzaBase, ET, ElementBase
-from slixmpp.xmlstream.handler import Waiter, XMLCallback
-from slixmpp.xmlstream.matcher import MatchXMLMask
+from slixmpp.xmlstream import tostring
+from slixmpp.xmlstream.stanzabase import StanzaBase, ElementBase
 from slixmpp.xmlstream.resolver import resolve, default_resolver
 
 #: The time in seconds to wait before timing out waiting for response stanzas.
@@ -584,10 +571,7 @@ class XMLStream(object):
         if not self.dns_answers:
             self.dns_answers = self.get_dns_records(domain, port)
 
-        if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-            return self.dns_answers.next()
-        else:
-            return next(self.dns_answers)
+        return next(self.dns_answers)
 
     def add_event_handler(self, name, pointer, disposable=False):
         """Add a custom event handler that will be executed whenever
diff --git a/tests/test_overall.py b/tests/test_overall.py
index 411ebcdf..3f32913c 100644
--- a/tests/test_overall.py
+++ b/tests/test_overall.py
@@ -15,10 +15,7 @@ class TestOverall(unittest.TestCase):
     def testModules(self):
         """Testing all modules by compiling them"""
         src = '.%sslixmpp' % os.sep
-        if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-            rx = re.compile('/[.]svn')
-        else:
-            rx = re.compile('/[.]svn|.*26.*')
+        rx = re.compile('/[.]svn|.*26.*')
         self.failUnless(compileall.compile_dir(src, rx=rx, quiet=True))
 
     def testTabNanny(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_stanza_xep_0009.py b/tests/test_stanza_xep_0009.py
index 4392ca14..f1a61b80 100644
--- a/tests/test_stanza_xep_0009.py
+++ b/tests/test_stanza_xep_0009.py
@@ -24,10 +24,6 @@ from slixmpp.xmlstream.tostring import tostring
 import unittest
 
 
-if sys.version_info > (3, 0):
-    unicode = str
-
-
 class TestJabberRPC(SlixTest):
 
     def setUp(self):