diff --git a/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py b/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py
index b97ceefc0..bca26ce17 100644
--- a/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py
+++ b/picard/formats/mutagenext/tak.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class TAKInfo(object):
 
     def __init__(self, fileobj):
         header = fileobj.read(4)
-        if len(header) != 4 or not header.startswith("tBaK"):
+        if len(header) != 4 or not header.startswith(b"tBaK"):
             raise TAKHeaderError("not a TAK file")
 
     def pprint(self):
diff --git a/test/data/test.tak b/test/data/test.tak
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c9b646307
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/data/test.tak differ
diff --git a/test/test_formats.py b/test/test_formats.py
index f2cc997aa..d9ca2201d 100644
--- a/test/test_formats.py
+++ b/test/test_formats.py
@@ -500,6 +500,11 @@ class MusepackSV8Test(CommonTests.FormatsTest):
     supports_ratings = False
 
 
+class TAKTest(CommonTests.FormatsTest):
+    testfile = 'test.tak'
+    supports_ratings = False
+
+
 cover_settings = {
     'embed_only_one_front_image': True,
 }