diff --git a/mercurial/util.py b/mercurial/util.py
index f4e6f98642..75fd303da2 100644
--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -38,8 +38,12 @@ def _fastsha1(s):
 
 import __builtin__
 
-def fakebuffer(sliceable, offset=0):
-    return sliceable[offset:]
+if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
+    def fakebuffer(sliceable, offset=0):
+        return sliceable[offset:]
+else:
+    def fakebuffer(sliceable, offset=0):
+        return memoryview(sliceable)[offset:]
 try:
     buffer
 except NameError: