diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 3d7ae598e1..5090c04b9f 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -927,7 +927,6 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/python-3.5-fix-tests.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/python-3.5-getentropy-on-old-kernels.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/python-dendropy-fix-tests.patch		\
-  %D%/packages/patches/python-file-double-encoding-bug.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/python-fix-tests.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/python-parse-too-many-fields.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/python2-rdflib-drop-sparqlwrapper.patch	\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/python-file-double-encoding-bug.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/python-file-double-encoding-bug.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index bbe825c36a..0000000000
--- a/gnu/packages/patches/python-file-double-encoding-bug.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-Fix bug that breaks file's Python bindings when using Python 3. This patch
-should not be applied when using Python 2.
-
-Copied from upstream source repository:
-
-https://github.com/file/file/commit/73e043d2a986234b187a00ed0c8d1f7bf83df372
-
-From 73e043d2a986234b187a00ed0c8d1f7bf83df372 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
-From: Christos Zoulas <christos@zoulas.com>
-Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2016 17:10:22 +0000
-Subject: [PATCH] PR/562: Reiner Herrmann: Avoid double encoding with python3
-
----
- python/magic.py | 6 +++---
- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
-
-diff --git a/python/magic.py b/python/magic.py
-index c48f7d5..b0f7a17 100644
---- a/python/magic.py
-+++ b/python/magic.py
-@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ class Magic(object):
-         if isinstance(r, str):
-             return r
-         else:
--            return str(r).encode('utf-8')
-+            return str(r, 'utf-8')
- 
-     def descriptor(self, fd):
-         """
-@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ class Magic(object):
-         if isinstance(r, str):
-             return r
-         else:
--            return str(r).encode('utf-8')
-+            return str(r, 'utf-8')
- 
-     def error(self):
-         """
-@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class Magic(object):
-         if isinstance(e, str):
-             return e
-         else:
--            return str(e).encode('utf-8')
-+            return str(e, 'utf-8')
- 
-     def setflags(self, flags):
-         """
--- 
-2.10.1
-
diff --git a/gnu/packages/python.scm b/gnu/packages/python.scm
index b958199bdb..aaa69075ef 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/python.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/python.scm
@@ -7578,10 +7578,6 @@ Python's @code{ctypes} foreign function interface (FFI).")
   (package
     (inherit file)
     (name "python-file")
-    (source (origin
-              (inherit (package-source file))
-              ;; This patch should not be applied to python2-file.
-              (patches (search-patches "python-file-double-encoding-bug.patch"))))
     (build-system python-build-system)
     (arguments
      '(#:tests? #f                                ;no tests