Python – How to Convert Bytes to a String

I captured the standard output of an external program into a bytes object:

>>> from subprocess import *
>>> stdout = Popen(['ls', '-l'], stdout=PIPE).communicate()[0]
>>> stdout
b'total 0\n-rw-rw-r-- 1 thomas thomas 0 Mar  3 07:03 file1\n-rw-rw-r-- 1 thomas thomas 0 Mar  3 07:03 file2\n'

I want to convert that to a normal Python string, so that I can print it like this:

>>> print(stdout)
-rw-rw-r-- 1 thomas thomas 0 Mar  3 07:03 file1
-rw-rw-r-- 1 thomas thomas 0 Mar  3 07:03 file2

How do I convert the bytes object to a str with Python 3?

_{See Best way to convert string to bytes in Python 3? for the other way around.}