diff --git a/moto/kinesis/utils.py b/moto/kinesis/utils.py
index 337728f02..0c3edbb5a 100644
--- a/moto/kinesis/utils.py
+++ b/moto/kinesis/utils.py
@@ -1,8 +1,19 @@
+import sys
 import base64
 
 from .exceptions import InvalidArgumentError
 
 
+if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
+    encode_method = base64.encodestring
+    decode_method = base64.decodestring
+elif sys.version_info[0] == 3:
+    encode_method = base64.encodebytes
+    decode_method = base64.decodebytes
+else:
+    raise Exception("Python version is not supported")
+
+
 def compose_new_shard_iterator(stream_name, shard, shard_iterator_type, starting_sequence_number,
                                at_timestamp):
     if shard_iterator_type == "AT_SEQUENCE_NUMBER":
@@ -22,7 +33,7 @@ def compose_new_shard_iterator(stream_name, shard, shard_iterator_type, starting
 
 
 def compose_shard_iterator(stream_name, shard, last_sequence_id):
-    return base64.encodestring(
+    return encode_method(
         "{0}:{1}:{2}".format(
             stream_name,
             shard.shard_id,
@@ -32,4 +43,4 @@ def compose_shard_iterator(stream_name, shard, last_sequence_id):
 
 
 def decompose_shard_iterator(shard_iterator):
-    return base64.decodestring(shard_iterator.encode("utf-8")).decode("utf-8").split(":")
+    return decode_method(shard_iterator.encode("utf-8")).decode("utf-8").split(":")