diff --git a/docs/release.rst b/docs/release.rst
index c55df95b..bfb4c387 100644
--- a/docs/release.rst
+++ b/docs/release.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
 Release notes
 =============
 
+.. _release_0.6.2:
+
+0.6.2
+-----
+
+* Handle (new) buffer protocol conforming types in ``Pickle.decode``.
+  (by :user:`John Kirkham <jakirkham>`, :issue:`143`).
+
+
 .. _release_0.6.1:
 
 0.6.1
diff --git a/numcodecs/pickles.py b/numcodecs/pickles.py
index 2d3ac81d..7e1c26f7 100644
--- a/numcodecs/pickles.py
+++ b/numcodecs/pickles.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 
 from .abc import Codec
-from .compat import PY2
+from .compat import PY2, ensure_bytes, ensure_contiguous_ndarray
 
 
 if PY2:  # pragma: py3 no cover
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ def encode(self, buf):
         return pickle.dumps(buf, protocol=self.protocol)
 
     def decode(self, buf, out=None):
+        if PY2:  # pragma: py3 no cover
+            buf = ensure_bytes(buf)
+        else:  # pragma: py2 no cover
+            buf = ensure_contiguous_ndarray(buf)
+
         dec = pickle.loads(buf)
         if out is not None:
             np.copyto(out, dec)
diff --git a/numcodecs/tests/common.py b/numcodecs/tests/common.py
index a06d4991..cd18491b 100644
--- a/numcodecs/tests/common.py
+++ b/numcodecs/tests/common.py
@@ -147,6 +147,10 @@ def check_encode_decode_array(arr, codec):
     codec.decode(enc, out=out)
     assert_array_items_equal(arr, out)
 
+    enc = codec.encode(arr)
+    dec = codec.decode(ensure_ndarray(enc))
+    assert_array_items_equal(arr, dec)
+
 
 def check_config(codec):
     config = codec.get_config()