diff --git a/Src/Newtonsoft.Json.Tests/Linq/JValueTests.cs b/Src/Newtonsoft.Json.Tests/Linq/JValueTests.cs
index d760fc18..08073c3c 100644
--- a/Src/Newtonsoft.Json.Tests/Linq/JValueTests.cs
+++ b/Src/Newtonsoft.Json.Tests/Linq/JValueTests.cs
@@ -609,6 +609,29 @@ namespace Newtonsoft.Json.Tests.Linq
         }
 #endif
 
+        [Test]
+        public void ExpicitConversionTest()
+        {
+            const string example = "Hello";
+            dynamic obj = new
+                {
+                    data = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(example)
+                };
+            byte[] bytes;
+            using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
+            {
+                using (TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(ms))
+                {
+                    JsonSerializer.Create().Serialize(tw,obj);
+                    tw.Flush();
+                    bytes = ms.ToArray();
+                }
+            }
+            dynamic o = JObject.Parse(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes));
+            var dataBytes = (byte[]) o.data;
+            Assert.AreEqual(example,Encoding.UTF8.GetString(dataBytes));
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public void GetTypeCode()
         {
diff --git a/Src/Newtonsoft.Json/Utilities/ConvertUtils.cs b/Src/Newtonsoft.Json/Utilities/ConvertUtils.cs
index 22ec8fcc..0961fb85 100644
--- a/Src/Newtonsoft.Json/Utilities/ConvertUtils.cs
+++ b/Src/Newtonsoft.Json/Utilities/ConvertUtils.cs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ using System.ComponentModel;
 #if !(NET20 || NET35 || PORTABLE40 || PORTABLE)
 using System.Numerics;
 #endif
+using System.Text;
 using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;
 using System.Reflection;
 #if NET20
@@ -395,6 +396,8 @@ namespace Newtonsoft.Json.Utilities
                     return new Uri((string)initialValue, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute);
                 if (targetType == typeof(TimeSpan))
                     return ParseTimeSpan((string)initialValue);
+                if (targetType == typeof (byte[]))
+                    return ParseBytes((string) initialValue);
                 if (typeof(Type).IsAssignableFrom(targetType))
                     return Type.GetType((string)initialValue, true);
             }
@@ -438,6 +441,12 @@ namespace Newtonsoft.Json.Utilities
 
             throw new InvalidOperationException("Can not convert from {0} to {1}.".FormatWith(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, initialType, targetType));
         }
+
+        private static object ParseBytes(string initialValue)
+        {
+            return System.Convert.FromBase64String(initialValue);
+        }
+
         #endregion
 
         #region TryConvert