diff --git a/changelog/62501.fixed.md b/changelog/62501.fixed.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5b9b0460322
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/62501.fixed.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Convert stdin string to bytes regardless of stdin_raw_newlines
diff --git a/salt/utils/timed_subprocess.py b/salt/utils/timed_subprocess.py
index 627d3f712ed..c41d1a7377b 100644
--- a/salt/utils/timed_subprocess.py
+++ b/salt/utils/timed_subprocess.py
@@ -33,9 +33,8 @@ class TimedProc:
             if not self.stdin_raw_newlines:
                 # Translate a newline submitted as '\n' on the CLI to an actual
                 # newline character.
-                self.stdin = salt.utils.stringutils.to_bytes(
-                    self.stdin.replace("\\n", "\n")
-                )
+                self.stdin = self.stdin.replace("\\n", "\n")
+            self.stdin = salt.utils.stringutils.to_bytes(self.stdin)
             kwargs["stdin"] = subprocess.PIPE
 
         if not self.with_communicate: