diff --git a/muranorepository/api/utils.py b/muranorepository/api/utils.py
index b75325f..77e241f 100644
--- a/muranorepository/api/utils.py
+++ b/muranorepository/api/utils.py
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
+
 import os
 import shutil
 import re
 import tempfile
 import datetime
-import yaml
+
 from flask import jsonify, abort
 from flask import make_response
 from werkzeug import secure_filename
 
 from muranorepository.utils.parser import ManifestParser
+from muranorepository.utils.parser import serialize
 from muranorepository.utils.archiver import Archiver
 from muranorepository.consts import DATA_TYPES, MANIFEST
 from muranorepository.consts import CLIENTS_DICT
@@ -217,7 +219,7 @@ def create_service(data):
                                     service_id + '-manifest.yaml')
     try:
         with open(path_to_manifest, 'w') as service_manifest:
-            service_manifest.write(yaml.dump(data, default_flow_style=False))
+            service_manifest.write(serialize(data))
     except Exception as e:
         log.exception(e)
         if os.path.exists(path_to_manifest):
diff --git a/muranorepository/api/v1.py b/muranorepository/api/v1.py
index aaba184..ce239e6 100644
--- a/muranorepository/api/v1.py
+++ b/muranorepository/api/v1.py
@@ -29,21 +29,6 @@ v1_api = Blueprint('v1', __name__)
 CONF = cfg.CONF
 
 
-def convert(input):
-        """
-        Convert unicode to regular strings
-        """
-        if isinstance(input, dict):
-            return dict([(convert(key), convert(value))
-                         for key, value in input.iteritems()])
-        elif isinstance(input, list):
-            return [convert(element) for element in input]
-        elif isinstance(input, unicode):
-            return input.encode('utf-8')
-        else:
-            return input
-
-
 @v1_api.route('/client/<path:client_type>')
 def get_archive_data(client_type):
     if client_type not in CLIENTS_DICT.keys():
@@ -235,7 +220,7 @@ def reset_caches():
 @v1_api.route('/admin/services/create', methods=['PUT'])
 def create_service():
     try:
-        service_data = convert(json.loads(request.data))
+        service_data = json.loads(request.data)
     except:
         return make_response('Unable to load json data', 500)
     resp = api.create_service(service_data)
@@ -248,7 +233,7 @@ def update_service(service_name):
     api.check_service_name(service_name)
     parser = ManifestParser()
     try:
-        service_data = convert(json.loads(request.data))
+        service_data = json.loads(request.data)
     except:
         return make_response('Unable to load json data', 500)
     result = parser.update_service(service_name, service_data)
diff --git a/muranorepository/utils/parser.py b/muranorepository/utils/parser.py
index b997e5d..20ae338 100644
--- a/muranorepository/utils/parser.py
+++ b/muranorepository/utils/parser.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 import os
 import yaml
+import sys
 from oslo.config import cfg
 import logging as log
 from muranorepository.manifest import Manifest
@@ -21,6 +22,29 @@ from muranorepository.consts import DATA_TYPES, MANIFEST
 CONF = cfg.CONF
 
 
+def serialize(data):
+    def convert(data):
+        """
+        Convert unicode to regular strings.
+
+        Needed in python 2.x to handle differences in str/unicode processing.
+        In python 3.x this can be done much more easily:
+        yaml.dump(data, allow_unicode=True, encoding='utf-8') call would
+        convert all unicode to utf-8 encoded byte-strings.
+        """
+        if isinstance(data, dict):
+            return dict([(convert(key), convert(value))
+                         for key, value in data.iteritems()])
+        elif isinstance(data, list):
+            return [convert(element) for element in input]
+        elif isinstance(data, unicode):
+            return data.encode('utf-8')
+        else:
+            return data
+
+    return yaml.dump(convert(data), default_flow_style=False)
+
+
 class ManifestParser(object):
     def __init__(self, manifest_directory=None):
         if not manifest_directory:
@@ -120,6 +144,5 @@ class ManifestParser(object):
             service_manifest_data[key] = data[key]
 
         with open(path_to_manifest, 'w') as manifest_file:
-            manifest_file.write(yaml.dump(service_manifest_data,
-                                          default_flow_style=False))
+            manifest_file.write(serialize(service_manifest_data))
         return True