diff --git a/Lib/telnetlib.py b/Lib/telnetlib.py
index 5258c8ad204..c60578debff 100644
--- a/Lib/telnetlib.py
+++ b/Lib/telnetlib.py
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ def mt_interact(self):
             line = sys.stdin.readline()
             if not line:
                 break
-            self.write(line)
+            self.write(line.encode('ascii'))
 
     def listener(self):
         """Helper for mt_interact() -- this executes in the other thread."""
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ def listener(self):
                 print('*** Connection closed by remote host ***')
                 return
             if data:
-                sys.stdout.write(data)
+                sys.stdout.write(data.decode('ascii'))
             else:
                 sys.stdout.flush()
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index d9098d5307c..8fb6203a899 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- #7761: telnetlib.interact failures on Windows fixed.
+
 - logging: Added style option to Formatter to allow %, {} or $-formatting.
 
 - Issue #5178: Added tempfile.TemporaryDirectory class that can be used