diff --git a/beetsplug/convert.py b/beetsplug/convert.py
index 8ff078bed..aee2f55f0 100644
--- a/beetsplug/convert.py
+++ b/beetsplug/convert.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def convert_item(lib, dest_dir):
         dest = os.path.join(dest_dir, lib.destination(item, fragment=True))
         dest = os.path.splitext(dest)[0] + '.mp3'
 
-        if os.path.exists(dest):
+        if os.path.exists(util.syspath(dest)):
             log.info(u'Skipping {0} (target file exists)'.format(
                 util.displayable_path(item.path)
             ))
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 0956a8969..316814836 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ Other stuff:
   empty.
 * Fix an error introduced in 1.1b1 when importing using timid mode. Thanks to
   Sam Doshi.
+* :doc:`/plugins/convert`: Fix a bug when creating files with Unicode
+  pathnames.
 
 1.1b2 (February 16, 2013)
 -------------------------