diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 4c076b86..3b6b15ba 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+* Save activity previews to the datastore as binary png images. (tomeu)
+
 Snapshot acca55e861
 
 * #3905 Wait 3 seconds, rather than 3000, if NetworkManager doesn't respond
diff --git a/sugar/activity/activity.py b/sugar/activity/activity.py
index b3bbcba6..ca711109 100644
--- a/sugar/activity/activity.py
+++ b/sugar/activity/activity.py
@@ -449,9 +449,7 @@ class Activity(Window, gtk.Container):
             f.close()
             os.remove(file_path)
 
-        # TODO: Take this out when the datastore accepts binary data.        
-        import base64
-        return base64.b64encode(preview_data)
+        return preview_data
 
     def _get_buddies(self):
         if self._shared_activity is not None:
@@ -481,7 +479,7 @@ class Activity(Window, gtk.Container):
         if self._preview is None:
             self.metadata['preview'] = ''
         else:
-            self.metadata['preview'] = self._preview
+            self.metadata['preview'] = dbus.ByteArray(self._preview)
 
         try:
             if self._jobject.file_path:
diff --git a/sugar/datastore/dbus_helpers.py b/sugar/datastore/dbus_helpers.py
index a10feec8..752b0cc6 100644
--- a/sugar/datastore/dbus_helpers.py
+++ b/sugar/datastore/dbus_helpers.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def delete(uid):
         
 def get_properties(uid):
     logging.debug('dbus_helpers.get_properties: %s' % uid)
-    return _get_data_store().get_properties(uid)
+    return _get_data_store().get_properties(uid, byte_arrays=True)
 
 def get_filename(uid):
     filename = _get_data_store().get_filename(uid)