diff --git a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/bytestreams/ibb/InBandBytestreamSession.java b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/bytestreams/ibb/InBandBytestreamSession.java
index 1cced78b2..a33682c87 100644
--- a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/bytestreams/ibb/InBandBytestreamSession.java
+++ b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/bytestreams/ibb/InBandBytestreamSession.java
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ public class InBandBytestreamSession implements BytestreamSession {
             }
 
             // return byte and increment buffer pointer
-            return (int) buffer[bufferPointer++];
+            return ((int) buffer[bufferPointer++]) & 0xff;
         }
 
         public synchronized int read(byte[] b, int off, int len) throws IOException {