diff --git a/slow/slow.py b/slow/slow.py
index ed04159..55e266c 100644
--- a/slow/slow.py
+++ b/slow/slow.py
@@ -260,12 +260,14 @@ class App:
 
 def HTTPResponse(
     request: Request,
-    content: str,
+    content: str | bytes,
     status=200,
     content_type="text/plain; charset=utf-8",
     headers=[],
 ) -> bytes:
-    content_bytes = content.encode(encoding="utf-8")
+    content_bytes = content
+    if isinstance(content, str):
+        content_bytes = content.encode(encoding="utf-8")
     head: str = f"HTTP/1.1 {status} {http.client.responses.get(status, 'Unkown Status Code')}\r\nContent-Type: {content_type}\r\nContent-Length: {len(content_bytes)}\r\n"
     if (
         "origin" in request.headers