diff --git a/py/objstr.c b/py/objstr.c
index f2f8063d0b..7ca8afc6ba 100644
--- a/py/objstr.c
+++ b/py/objstr.c
@@ -251,11 +251,13 @@ STATIC const byte *find_subbytes(const byte *haystack, machine_uint_t hlen, cons
 
 STATIC mp_obj_t str_binary_op(int op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in) {
     GET_STR_DATA_LEN(lhs_in, lhs_data, lhs_len);
+    mp_obj_type_t *lhs_type = mp_obj_get_type(lhs_in);
+    mp_obj_type_t *rhs_type = mp_obj_get_type(rhs_in);
     switch (op) {
         case MP_BINARY_OP_ADD:
         case MP_BINARY_OP_INPLACE_ADD:
-            if (MP_OBJ_IS_STR(rhs_in)) {
-                // add 2 strings
+            if (lhs_type == rhs_type) {
+                // add 2 strings or bytes
 
                 GET_STR_DATA_LEN(rhs_in, rhs_data, rhs_len);
                 int alloc_len = lhs_len + rhs_len;
@@ -270,7 +272,7 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t str_binary_op(int op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in) {
 
                 // code for non-qstr
                 byte *data;
-                mp_obj_t s = mp_obj_str_builder_start(mp_obj_get_type(lhs_in), alloc_len, &data);
+                mp_obj_t s = mp_obj_str_builder_start(lhs_type, alloc_len, &data);
                 memcpy(data, lhs_data, lhs_len);
                 memcpy(data + lhs_len, rhs_data, rhs_len);
                 return mp_obj_str_builder_end(s);
@@ -279,7 +281,7 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t str_binary_op(int op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in) {
 
         case MP_BINARY_OP_IN:
             /* NOTE `a in b` is `b.__contains__(a)` */
-            if (MP_OBJ_IS_STR(rhs_in)) {
+            if (lhs_type == rhs_type) {
                 GET_STR_DATA_LEN(rhs_in, rhs_data, rhs_len);
                 return MP_BOOL(find_subbytes(lhs_data, lhs_len, rhs_data, rhs_len, 1) != NULL);
             }
@@ -292,7 +294,7 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t str_binary_op(int op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in) {
             }
             int n = MP_OBJ_SMALL_INT_VALUE(rhs_in);
             byte *data;
-            mp_obj_t s = mp_obj_str_builder_start(mp_obj_get_type(lhs_in), lhs_len * n, &data);
+            mp_obj_t s = mp_obj_str_builder_start(lhs_type, lhs_len * n, &data);
             mp_seq_multiply(lhs_data, sizeof(*lhs_data), lhs_len, n, data);
             return mp_obj_str_builder_end(s);
         }
@@ -310,14 +312,13 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t str_binary_op(int op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in) {
             return str_modulo_format(lhs_in, n_args, args);
         }
 
-        // These 2 are never passed here, dealt with as a special case in mp_binary_op().
-        //case MP_BINARY_OP_EQUAL:
-        //case MP_BINARY_OP_NOT_EQUAL:
+        //case MP_BINARY_OP_NOT_EQUAL: // This is never passed here
+        case MP_BINARY_OP_EQUAL: // This will be passed only for bytes, str is dealt with in mp_obj_equal()
         case MP_BINARY_OP_LESS:
         case MP_BINARY_OP_LESS_EQUAL:
         case MP_BINARY_OP_MORE:
         case MP_BINARY_OP_MORE_EQUAL:
-            if (MP_OBJ_IS_STR(rhs_in)) {
+            if (lhs_type == rhs_type) {
                 GET_STR_DATA_LEN(rhs_in, rhs_data, rhs_len);
                 return MP_BOOL(mp_seq_cmp_bytes(op, lhs_data, lhs_len, rhs_data, rhs_len));
             }
diff --git a/py/sequence.c b/py/sequence.c
index 63f6bd6944..3d2bbba4df 100644
--- a/py/sequence.c
+++ b/py/sequence.c
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ bool m_seq_get_fast_slice_indexes(machine_uint_t len, mp_obj_t slice, machine_ui
 // Special-case comparison function for sequences of bytes
 // Don't pass MP_BINARY_OP_NOT_EQUAL here
 bool mp_seq_cmp_bytes(int op, const byte *data1, uint len1, const byte *data2, uint len2) {
+    if (op == MP_BINARY_OP_EQUAL && len1 != len2) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
     // Let's deal only with > & >=
     if (op == MP_BINARY_OP_LESS || op == MP_BINARY_OP_LESS_EQUAL) {
         SWAP(const byte*, data1, data2);
diff --git a/tests/basics/bytes_compare.py b/tests/basics/bytes_compare.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3804844feb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/basics/bytes_compare.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+print(b"" == b"")
+print(b"" > b"")
+print(b"" < b"")
+print(b"" == b"1")
+print(b"1" == b"")
+print("==")
+print(b"" > b"1")
+print(b"1" > b"")
+print(b"" < b"1")
+print(b"1" < b"")
+print(b"" >= b"1")
+print(b"1" >= b"")
+print(b"" <= b"1")
+print(b"1" <= b"")
+
+print(b"1" == b"1")
+print(b"1" != b"1")
+print(b"1" == b"2")
+print(b"1" == b"10")
+
+print(b"1" > b"1")
+print(b"1" > b"2")
+print(b"2" > b"1")
+print(b"10" > b"1")
+print(b"1/" > b"1")
+print(b"1" > b"10")
+print(b"1" > b"1/")
+
+print(b"1" < b"1")
+print(b"2" < b"1")
+print(b"1" < b"2")
+print(b"1" < b"10")
+print(b"1" < b"1/")
+print(b"10" < b"1")
+print(b"1/" < b"1")
+
+print(b"1" >= b"1")
+print(b"1" >= b"2")
+print(b"2" >= b"1")
+print(b"10" >= b"1")
+print(b"1/" >= b"1")
+print(b"1" >= b"10")
+print(b"1" >= b"1/")
+
+print(b"1" <= b"1")
+print(b"2" <= b"1")
+print(b"1" <= b"2")
+print(b"1" <= b"10")
+print(b"1" <= b"1/")
+print(b"10" <= b"1")
+print(b"1/" <= b"1")