diff --git a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Constants.py b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Constants.py
index e8930798..fd011c13 100644
--- a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Constants.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Constants.py
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+import sys
+
+PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
+
 class ViewKind :
     """An integer (0-5) that represents the view mode of the document."""
 
diff --git a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Elements.py b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Elements.py
index afdff5f8..308872dd 100644
--- a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Elements.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Elements.py
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
-from    types       import  IntType, FloatType, LongType, StringTypes
-from    copy        import  deepcopy
-from    binascii    import  hexlify
+from copy import  deepcopy
+from binascii import  hexlify
 
-from    Constants   import  *
-from    Styles      import  *
+from .Constants import  *
+from .Styles import  *
+
+if PY2:
+    NumberTypes = (int, float, long)
+    StringType = basestring
+else:
+    NumberTypes = (int, float)
+    StringType = str
 
 class UnhandledParamError( Exception ) :
     def __init__( self, param ) :
@@ -587,7 +593,7 @@ class Table :
 
     def AddRow( self, *cells ) :
         height = None
-        if isinstance( cells[ 0 ], (IntType, FloatType, LongType) ):
+        if isinstance( cells[ 0 ], NumberTypes ):
             height = int( cells[ 0 ] )
             cells  = cells[ 1 : ]
 
diff --git a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/PropertySets.py b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/PropertySets.py
index 3816e5ca..d5871f5a 100644
--- a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/PropertySets.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/PropertySets.py
@@ -9,9 +9,14 @@ The TextPropertySet can be used for text or in a Paragraph Style.
 
 """
 
-from    types       import  StringType
-from    copy        import  deepcopy
+from copy import  deepcopy
 
+from .Constants import PY2
+
+if PY2:
+    StringType = basestring
+else:
+    StringType = str
 
 #
 #   We need some basic Type like fonts, colours and paper definitions
diff --git a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Renderer.py b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Renderer.py
index 33273a7c..7c8829f6 100644
--- a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Renderer.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Renderer.py
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
-from types import StringType, ListType, TupleType
 from copy import deepcopy
-from Elements import *
+
+from .Elements import *
+from .Constants import PY2
+if PY2:
+    StringType = basestring
+else:
+    StringType = str
 
 DEFAULT_TAB_WIDTH = 720
 
@@ -438,7 +443,7 @@ class Renderer :
             elif clss == Table :
                 self.WriteTableElement( element )
 
-            elif clss == StringType :
+            elif ininstance(element, StringType) :
                 self.WriteParagraphElement( Paragraph( element ) )
 
             elif clss in [ RawCode, Image ] :
diff --git a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Styles.py b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Styles.py
index 9494cbd8..402fe991 100644
--- a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Styles.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/Styles.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ At present there are only two, Text and Paragraph but ListStyles will be added s
 
 """
 
-from PropertySets import *
+from .PropertySets import *
 
 class TextStyle :
     def __init__( self, text_props, name=None, shading_props=None ) :
diff --git a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/__init__.py b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/__init__.py
index 7cfce418..1b55c5aa 100644
--- a/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/__init__.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/pyrtf/__init__.py
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
-from    PropertySets    import  *
-from    Elements    import  *
-from    Styles      import  *
-from    Renderer    import  *
+from .PropertySets import  *
+from .Elements import  *
+from .Styles import  *
+from .Renderer import  *
+from .Constants import PY2
+
+if PY2:
+    from cStringIO import StringIO as BytesIO
+else:
+    from io import BytesIO
 
 def dumps(doc):
-    import cStringIO
-    s=cStringIO.StringIO()
-    r=Renderer()
-    r.Write(doc,s)
+    s = BytesIO()
+    r = Renderer()
+    r.Write(doc, s)
     return s.getvalue()