diff --git a/android-types-internal.d.ts b/android-types-internal.d.ts
index a1bd5b253a..e835a5d364 100644
--- a/android-types-internal.d.ts
+++ b/android-types-internal.d.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ export interface AndroidDevice<BrowserContextOptions, BrowserContext, Page> exte
   model(): string;
   webViews(): AndroidWebView<Page>[];
   webView(selector: { pkg: string }, options?: { timeout?: number }): Promise<AndroidWebView<Page>>;
-  shell(command: string): Promise<string>;
+  shell(command: string): Promise<Buffer>;
   open(command: string): Promise<AndroidSocket>;
   installApk(file: string | Buffer, options?: { args?: string[] }): Promise<void>;
   launchBrowser(options?: BrowserContextOptions & { packageName?: string  }): Promise<BrowserContext>;
diff --git a/src/client/android.ts b/src/client/android.ts
index 339c48180f..8f709fa4c9 100644
--- a/src/client/android.ts
+++ b/src/client/android.ts
@@ -198,10 +198,10 @@ export class AndroidDevice extends ChannelOwner<channels.AndroidDeviceChannel, c
     });
   }
 
-  async shell(command: string): Promise<string> {
+  async shell(command: string): Promise<Buffer> {
     return this._wrapApiCall('androidDevice.shell', async () => {
       const { result } = await this._channel.shell({ command });
-      return result;
+      return Buffer.from(result, 'base64');
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/src/dispatchers/androidDispatcher.ts b/src/dispatchers/androidDispatcher.ts
index a952a8d32e..197345f9c1 100644
--- a/src/dispatchers/androidDispatcher.ts
+++ b/src/dispatchers/androidDispatcher.ts
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ export class AndroidDeviceDispatcher extends Dispatcher<AndroidDevice, channels.
   }
 
   async shell(params: channels.AndroidDeviceShellParams): Promise<channels.AndroidDeviceShellResult> {
-    return { result: await this._object.shell(params.command) };
+    return { result: (await this._object.shell(params.command)).toString('base64') };
   }
 
   async open(params: channels.AndroidDeviceOpenParams, metadata?: channels.Metadata): Promise<channels.AndroidDeviceOpenResult> {
diff --git a/src/protocol/channels.ts b/src/protocol/channels.ts
index dd60c8adbd..ca6b387a24 100644
--- a/src/protocol/channels.ts
+++ b/src/protocol/channels.ts
@@ -2747,7 +2747,7 @@ export type AndroidDeviceShellOptions = {
 
 };
 export type AndroidDeviceShellResult = {
-  result: string,
+  result: Binary,
 };
 export type AndroidDeviceInstallApkParams = {
   file: Binary,
diff --git a/src/protocol/protocol.yml b/src/protocol/protocol.yml
index ad82b20c6d..98b4d4d220 100644
--- a/src/protocol/protocol.yml
+++ b/src/protocol/protocol.yml
@@ -2303,7 +2303,7 @@ AndroidDevice:
       parameters:
         command: string
       returns:
-        result: string
+        result: binary
 
     installApk:
       parameters:
diff --git a/src/server/android/android.ts b/src/server/android/android.ts
index 197861cfbd..ce7f8760c8 100644
--- a/src/server/android/android.ts
+++ b/src/server/android/android.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export interface DeviceBackend {
   status: string;
   close(): Promise<void>;
   init(): Promise<void>;
-  runCommand(command: string): Promise<string>;
+  runCommand(command: string): Promise<Buffer>;
   open(command: string): Promise<SocketBackend>;
 }
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ export class AndroidDevice extends EventEmitter {
   static async create(android: Android, backend: DeviceBackend): Promise<AndroidDevice> {
     await backend.init();
     const model = await backend.runCommand('shell:getprop ro.product.model');
-    const device = new AndroidDevice(android, backend, model.trim());
+    const device = new AndroidDevice(android, backend, model.toString().trim());
     await device._init();
     return device;
   }
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ export class AndroidDevice extends EventEmitter {
     this._timeoutSettings.setDefaultTimeout(timeout);
   }
 
-  async shell(command: string): Promise<string> {
+  async shell(command: string): Promise<Buffer> {
     const result = await this._backend.runCommand(`shell:${command}`);
     await this._refreshWebViews();
     return result;
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ export class AndroidDevice extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   private async _refreshWebViews() {
-    const sockets = (await this._backend.runCommand(`shell:cat /proc/net/unix | grep webview_devtools_remote`)).split('\n');
+    const sockets = (await this._backend.runCommand(`shell:cat /proc/net/unix | grep webview_devtools_remote`)).toString().split('\n');
     if (this._isClosed)
       return;
 
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ export class AndroidDevice extends EventEmitter {
       if (this._webViews.has(pid))
         continue;
 
-      const procs = (await this._backend.runCommand(`shell:ps -A | grep ${pid}`)).split('\n');
+      const procs = (await this._backend.runCommand(`shell:ps -A | grep ${pid}`)).toString().split('\n');
       if (this._isClosed)
         return;
       let pkg = '';
diff --git a/src/server/android/backendAdb.ts b/src/server/android/backendAdb.ts
index ea2b03c89d..2eaa9193c0 100644
--- a/src/server/android/backendAdb.ts
+++ b/src/server/android/backendAdb.ts
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class AdbDevice implements DeviceBackend {
   async close() {
   }
 
-  runCommand(command: string): Promise<string> {
+  runCommand(command: string): Promise<Buffer> {
     return runCommand(command, this.serial);
   }
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class AdbDevice implements DeviceBackend {
   }
 }
 
-async function runCommand(command: string, serial?: string): Promise<string> {
+async function runCommand(command: string, serial?: string): Promise<Buffer> {
   debug('pw:adb:runCommand')(command, serial);
   const socket = new BufferedSocketWrapper(command, net.createConnection({ port: 5037 }));
   if (serial) {
@@ -70,9 +70,9 @@ async function runCommand(command: string, serial?: string): Promise<string> {
   assert(status.toString() === 'OKAY', status.toString());
   if (!command.startsWith('shell:')) {
     const remainingLength = parseInt((await socket.read(4)).toString(), 16);
-    return (await socket.read(remainingLength)).toString();
+    return (await socket.read(remainingLength));
   }
-  return (await socket.readAll()).toString();
+  return (await socket.readAll());
 }
 
 async function open(command: string, serial?: string): Promise<BufferedSocketWrapper> {