diff --git a/internal/asynqtest/asynqtest.go b/internal/asynqtest/asynqtest.go
index f9d6aaa..082ec73 100644
--- a/internal/asynqtest/asynqtest.go
+++ b/internal/asynqtest/asynqtest.go
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ func MustMarshal(tb testing.TB, msg *base.TaskMessage) string {
 // Calling test will fail if unmarshaling errors out.
 func MustUnmarshal(tb testing.TB, data string) *base.TaskMessage {
 	tb.Helper()
-	msg, err := base.DecodeMessage(data)
+	msg, err := base.DecodeMessage([]byte(data))
 	if err != nil {
 		tb.Fatal(err)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/base/base.go b/internal/base/base.go
index 00f29be..4ba67a5 100644
--- a/internal/base/base.go
+++ b/internal/base/base.go
@@ -218,11 +218,10 @@ func EncodeMessage(msg *TaskMessage) ([]byte, error) {
 	return proto.Marshal(&pbmsg)
 }
 
-// DecodeMessage unmarshals the given encoded string and returns a decoded task message.
-// TODO: should take []byte instead of string
-func DecodeMessage(s string) (*TaskMessage, error) {
+// DecodeMessage unmarshals the given bytes and returns a decoded task message.
+func DecodeMessage(data []byte) (*TaskMessage, error) {
 	var pbmsg pb.TaskMessage
-	if err := proto.Unmarshal([]byte(s), &pbmsg); err != nil {
+	if err := proto.Unmarshal(data, &pbmsg); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	d := json.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(pbmsg.Payload))
diff --git a/internal/rdb/inspect.go b/internal/rdb/inspect.go
index de19fb5..c778219 100644
--- a/internal/rdb/inspect.go
+++ b/internal/rdb/inspect.go
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ func (r *RDB) listMessages(key, qname string, pgn Pagination) ([]*base.TaskMessa
 	reverse(data)
 	var msgs []*base.TaskMessage
 	for _, s := range data {
-		m, err := base.DecodeMessage(s)
+		m, err := base.DecodeMessage([]byte(s))
 		if err != nil {
 			continue // bad data, ignore and continue
 		}
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ func (r *RDB) listZSetEntries(key, qname string, pgn Pagination) ([]base.Z, erro
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
-		msg, err := base.DecodeMessage(s)
+		msg, err := base.DecodeMessage([]byte(s))
 		if err != nil {
 			continue // bad data, ignore and continue
 		}
diff --git a/internal/rdb/rdb.go b/internal/rdb/rdb.go
index 7c8f4f8..64d5e04 100644
--- a/internal/rdb/rdb.go
+++ b/internal/rdb/rdb.go
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ func (r *RDB) Dequeue(qnames ...string) (msg *base.TaskMessage, deadline time.Ti
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, time.Time{}, err
 	}
-	if msg, err = base.DecodeMessage(encoded); err != nil {
+	if msg, err = base.DecodeMessage([]byte(encoded)); err != nil {
 		return nil, time.Time{}, err
 	}
 	return msg, time.Unix(d, 0), nil
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ func (r *RDB) ListDeadlineExceeded(deadline time.Time, qnames ...string) ([]*bas
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		for _, s := range data {
-			msg, err := base.DecodeMessage(s)
+			msg, err := base.DecodeMessage([]byte(s))
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}