diff --git a/Lib/py_compile.py b/Lib/py_compile.py
index e0375ea935e..3c2809b0005 100644
--- a/Lib/py_compile.py
+++ b/Lib/py_compile.py
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 # This has intimate knowledge of how Python/import.c does it.
 # By Sjoerd Mullender (I forced him to write it :-).
 
-MAGIC = 0x999903
+import imp
+MAGIC = imp.get_magic()
 
 def wr_long(f, x):
 	f.write(chr( x        & 0xff))
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ def compile(file, cfile = None):
 	if not cfile:
 		cfile = file + 'c'
 	fc = open(cfile, 'wb')
-	wr_long(fc, MAGIC)
+	fc.write(MAGIC)
 	wr_long(fc, timestamp)
 	marshal.dump(codeobject, fc)
 	fc.close()