diff --git a/pandas/io/html.py b/pandas/io/html.py
index eafcca0e85bb3..04f9f317d7dae 100644
--- a/pandas/io/html.py
+++ b/pandas/io/html.py
@@ -591,9 +591,14 @@ def _setup_build_doc(self):
     def _build_doc(self):
         from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
 
-        return BeautifulSoup(
-            self._setup_build_doc(), features="html5lib", from_encoding=self.encoding
-        )
+        bdoc = self._setup_build_doc()
+        if isinstance(bdoc, bytes) and self.encoding is not None:
+            udoc = bdoc.decode(self.encoding)
+            from_encoding = None
+        else:
+            udoc = bdoc
+            from_encoding = self.encoding
+        return BeautifulSoup(udoc, features="html5lib", from_encoding=from_encoding)
 
 
 def _build_xpath_expr(attrs) -> str:
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_html.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_html.py
index 626df839363cb..7a814ce82fd73 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_html.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_html.py
@@ -1158,9 +1158,9 @@ def test_displayed_only(self, displayed_only, exp0, exp1):
             assert len(dfs) == 1  # Should not parse hidden table
 
     def test_encode(self, html_encoding_file):
-        _, encoding = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(html_encoding_file))[0].split(
-            "_"
-        )
+        base_path = os.path.basename(html_encoding_file)
+        root = os.path.splitext(base_path)[0]
+        _, encoding = root.split("_")
 
         try:
             with open(html_encoding_file, "rb") as fobj:
@@ -1183,7 +1183,7 @@ def test_encode(self, html_encoding_file):
             if is_platform_windows():
                 if "16" in encoding or "32" in encoding:
                     pytest.skip()
-                raise
+            raise
 
     def test_parse_failure_unseekable(self):
         # Issue #17975