diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/core/target/qemu.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/core/target/qemu.py
index a4f53747b01..e3e5ec874d5 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/core/target/qemu.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/core/target/qemu.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class OEQemuTarget(OESSHTarget):
             blcmd = ["tail", "-20", self.bootlog]
             msg += "===== start: snippet =====\n\n"
             try:
-                out = subprocess.check_output(blcmd, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, timeout=1).decode('utf-8')
+                out = subprocess.check_output(blcmd, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, timeout=1, text=True)
                 msg += "file: %s\n\n" % self.bootlog
                 msg += out
             except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, subprocess.TimeoutExpired, FileNotFoundError) as err:
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/boot.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/boot.py
index dcee3311f78..1ea22ac9a63 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/boot.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/boot.py
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ class BootTest(OERuntimeTestCase):
         while count < 5:
             time.sleep(5)
             cmd = 'ping -c 1 %s' % self.target.ip
-            proc = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE)
-            output += proc.communicate()[0].decode('utf-8')
+            proc = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE, text=True)
+            output += proc.communicate()[0]
             if proc.poll() == 0:
                 count += 1
             else:
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/dnf.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/dnf.py
index 1becc8d8a02..e96f2ac765d 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/dnf.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/dnf.py
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class DnfRepoTest(DnfTest):
     @OETestDepends(['dnf.DnfRepoTest.test_dnf_install_from_disk'])
     def test_dnf_install_from_http(self):
         output = subprocess.check_output('%s %s -name dnf-test-dep*' % (bb.utils.which(os.getenv('PATH'), "find"),
-                                                                           os.path.join(self.tc.td['WORKDIR'], 'oe-testimage-repo')), shell=True).decode("utf-8")
+                                                                           os.path.join(self.tc.td['WORKDIR'], 'oe-testimage-repo')), shell=True, text=True)
         rpm_path = output.split("/")[-2] + "/" + output.split("/")[-1]
         url = 'http://%s:%s/%s' %(self.target.server_ip, self.repo_server.port, rpm_path)
         self.dnf_with_repo('remove -y dnf-test-dep')
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/ping.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/ping.py
index baea1b385ba..f4c57f0f1ac 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/ping.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/runtime/cases/ping.py
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ class PingTest(OERuntimeTestCase):
         try:
             while count < 5:
                 cmd = 'ping -c 1 %s' % self.target.ip
-                proc = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE)
-                output += proc.communicate()[0].decode('utf-8')
+                proc = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE, text=True)
+                output += proc.communicate()[0]
                 if proc.poll() == 0:
                     count += 1
                 else:
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py
index 747608f260c..ee25d682b95 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py
@@ -66,9 +66,9 @@ class TestSDK(TestSDKBase):
         import subprocess
 
         try:
-            subprocess.check_output("cd %s; %s <<EOF\n./\nY\nEOF" % (sdk_dir, tcname), shell=True)
+            subprocess.check_output("cd %s; %s <<EOF\n./\nY\nEOF" % (sdk_dir, tcname), shell=True, text=True)
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-            bb.fatal("Couldn't install the SDK:\n%s" % e.output.decode("utf-8"))
+            bb.fatal("Couldn't install the SDK:\n%s" % e.output)
 
     def setup_context(self, d):
         """
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/utils/sdkbuildproject.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/utils/sdkbuildproject.py
index 66edf56f6a1..a6e9c8a97f8 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/utils/sdkbuildproject.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/utils/sdkbuildproject.py
@@ -46,8 +46,9 @@ class SDKBuildProject(BuildProject):
         self.log("Running . %s; " % self.sdkenv + cmd)
         try:
             output = subprocess.check_output(". %s; " % self.sdkenv + cmd, shell=True,
-                                             executable='/bin/bash', stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+                                             executable='/bin/bash', stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+                                             text=True)
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
-            print(exc.output.decode('utf-8'))
+            print(exc.output)
             return exc.returncode
         return 0
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/sdkext/testsdk.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/sdkext/testsdk.py
index 8e262a10a06..40560fb47a4 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/sdkext/testsdk.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/sdkext/testsdk.py
@@ -47,9 +47,9 @@ class TestSDKExt(TestSDKBase):
         bb.utils.remove(sdk_dir, True)
         bb.utils.mkdirhier(sdk_dir)
         try:
-            subprocess.check_output([tcname, '-y', '-d', sdk_dir])
+            subprocess.check_output([tcname, '-y', '-d', sdk_dir], text=True)
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-            msg = "Couldn't install the extensible SDK:\n%s" % e.output.decode("utf-8")
+            msg = "Couldn't install the extensible SDK:\n%s" % e.output
             logfn = os.path.join(sdk_dir, 'preparing_build_system.log')
             if os.path.exists(logfn):
                 msg += '\n\nContents of preparing_build_system.log:\n'
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/yoctotestresultsquerytests.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/yoctotestresultsquerytests.py
index be062cf7839..221265e317d 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/yoctotestresultsquerytests.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/yoctotestresultsquerytests.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class TestResultsQueryTests(OESelftestTestCase):
         workdir = create_workdir()
         try:
             url = subprocess.check_output(
-                ["git", "-C", workdir, "remote", "get-url", "origin"]).strip().decode("utf-8")
+                ["git", "-C", workdir, "remote", "get-url", "origin"], text=True).strip()
         except:
             shutil.rmtree(workdir, ignore_errors=True)
             self.fail(f"Can not execute git commands in {workdir}")
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/metadata.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/metadata.py
index 98f177edbd4..941a66de03e 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/metadata.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/metadata.py
@@ -68,19 +68,19 @@ def git_rev_info(path):
     except ImportError:
         import subprocess
         try:
-            info['branch'] = subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"], cwd=path).decode('utf-8').strip()
+            info['branch'] = subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"], cwd=path, text=True).strip()
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
             pass
         try:
-            info['commit'] = subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "HEAD"], cwd=path).decode('utf-8').strip()
+            info['commit'] = subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "HEAD"], cwd=path, text=True).strip()
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
             pass
         try:
-            info['commit_count'] = int(subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-list", "--count", "HEAD"], cwd=path).decode('utf-8').strip())
+            info['commit_count'] = int(subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-list", "--count", "HEAD"], cwd=path, text=True).strip())
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
             pass
         try:
-            info['commit_time'] = int(subprocess.check_output(["git", "show", "--no-patch", "--format=%ct", "HEAD"], cwd=path).decode('utf-8').strip())
+            info['commit_time'] = int(subprocess.check_output(["git", "show", "--no-patch", "--format=%ct", "HEAD"], cwd=path, text=True).strip())
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
             pass
         return info
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
index 26782518e4e..0e27a977335 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
@@ -316,8 +316,7 @@ class QemuRunner:
                 % (self.runqemu.poll(), os.path.isfile(self.qemu_pidfile), str(qemu_pid), os.path.exists("/proc/" + str(qemu_pid))))
 
             # Dump all processes to help us to figure out what is going on...
-            ps = subprocess.Popen(['ps', 'axww', '-o', 'pid,ppid,pri,ni,command '], stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
-            processes = ps.decode("utf-8")
+            processes = subprocess.Popen(['ps', 'axww', '-o', 'pid,ppid,pri,ni,command '], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, text=True).communicate()[0]
             self.logger.debug("Running processes:\n%s" % processes)
             op = getOutput(output)
             self.stop()
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemutinyrunner.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemutinyrunner.py
index d4a42304e23..0510977e9de 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemutinyrunner.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemutinyrunner.py
@@ -143,8 +143,8 @@ class QemuTinyRunner(QemuRunner):
         #
         # Walk the process tree from the process specified looking for a qemu-system. Return its [pid'cmd]
         #
-        ps = subprocess.Popen(['ps', 'axww', '-o', 'pid,ppid,pri,ni,command'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
-        processes = ps.decode("utf-8").split('\n')
+        ps = subprocess.Popen(['ps', 'axww', '-o', 'pid,ppid,pri,ni,command'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, text=True).communicate()[0]
+        processes = ps.split('\n')
         nfields = len(processes[0].split()) - 1
         pids = {}
         commands = {}