diff --git a/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/all.py b/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/all.py
index e19ad6fd..f016dafa 100644
--- a/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/all.py
+++ b/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/all.py
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ def test_case(
     ):
         return True
 
-    CMD = ["python2.7", "runtest.py"]
+    CMD = ["python", "runtest.py"]
     CMD.append("--wast2wasm")
     CMD.append(WAST2WASM_CMD)
     CMD.append("--interpreter")
diff --git a/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py b/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py
index ef4eb162..2481f0cc 100755
--- a/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py
+++ b/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 from __future__ import print_function
 import os, sys, re
-from pickletools import long1
 import argparse, time
 import signal, atexit, tempfile, subprocess
 
@@ -18,11 +17,9 @@ import struct
 import math
 import traceback
 
-try:
-    long
+if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
     IS_PY_3 = False
-except NameError:
-    long = int
+else:
     IS_PY_3 = True
 
 test_aot = False
@@ -154,7 +151,8 @@ class Runner():
                 self.stdout.close()
             self.stdin = None
             self.stdout = None
-            sys.exc_clear()
+            if not IS_PY_3:
+                sys.exc_clear()
 
 def assert_prompt(runner, prompts, timeout, is_need_execute_result):
     # Wait for the initial prompt
@@ -1128,11 +1126,15 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                     # workaround: spec test changes error message to "malformed" while iwasm still use "invalid"
                     error_msg = m.group(2).replace("malformed", "invalid")
                     log("Testing(malformed)")
-                    f = open(wasm_tempfile, 'w')
+                    f = open(wasm_tempfile, 'wb')
                     s = m.group(1)
                     while s:
                         res = re.match("[^\"]*\"([^\"]*)\"(.*)", s, re.DOTALL)
-                        f.write(res.group(1).replace("\\", "\\x").decode("string_escape"))
+                        if IS_PY_3:
+                            context = res.group(1).replace("\\", "\\x").encode("latin1").decode("unicode-escape").encode("latin1")
+                            f.write(context)
+                        else:
+                            f.write(res.group(1).replace("\\", "\\x").decode("string-escape"))
                         s = res.group(2)
                     f.close()
 
@@ -1157,6 +1159,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                     log("Running: %s" % " ".join(cmd))
                     output = subprocess.check_output(cmd)
 
+                    if IS_PY_3:
+                        output = str(output, "latin1")
+
                     if (error_msg == "unexpected end of section or function") \
                        and output.endswith("unexpected end\n"):
                         # one case in binary.wast