diff --git a/Lib/test/test_bytes.py b/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
index 419bee5583de47..ee18e2de2403a2 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
@@ -1138,6 +1138,12 @@ def test_translate(self):
         c = b.translate(None, b'e')
         self.assertEqual(c, b'hllo')
 
+        # short inputs starting with NUL bytes
+        table = bytes.maketrans(b'\x00', b'Z')
+        for data in b'\x00', b'\x00' * 8, b'\x00' * 8 + b'a' * 247:
+            c = self.type2test(data).translate(table)
+            self.assertEqual(c, data.replace(b'\x00', b'Z'))
+
         # test delete as a keyword argument
         c = b.translate(rosetta, delete=b'')
         self.assertEqual(c, b'helle')
diff --git a/Objects/bytesobject.c b/Objects/bytesobject.c
index 91cbfa23e30b20..99489f876fc33e 100644
--- a/Objects/bytesobject.c
+++ b/Objects/bytesobject.c
@@ -2274,7 +2274,7 @@ bytes_translate_impl(PyBytesObject *self, PyObject *table,
     const char *table_chars;
     Py_ssize_t i, c, changed = 0;
     PyObject *input_obj = (PyObject*)self;
-    const char *output_start, *del_table_chars=NULL;
+    const char *del_table_chars=NULL;
     Py_ssize_t inlen, tablen, dellen = 0;
     int trans_table[256];
 
@@ -2326,7 +2326,7 @@ bytes_translate_impl(PyBytesObject *self, PyObject *table,
         PyBuffer_Release(&table_view);
         return NULL;
     }
-    output_start = output = PyBytesWriter_GetData(writer);
+    output = PyBytesWriter_GetData(writer);
     input = PyBytes_AS_STRING(input_obj);
 
     if (dellen == 0 && table_chars != NULL) {
@@ -2341,7 +2341,8 @@ bytes_translate_impl(PyBytesObject *self, PyObject *table,
         /* We save this check until the end so that the compiler will */
         /* unroll the loop above leading to MUCH faster code. */
         if (result != NULL && PyBytes_CheckExact(input_obj)) {
-            if (memcmp(PyBytes_AS_STRING(input_obj), output_start, inlen) == 0) {
+            if (memcmp(PyBytes_AS_STRING(input_obj),
+                       PyBytes_AS_STRING(result), inlen) == 0) {
                 Py_SETREF(result, Py_NewRef(input_obj));
             }
         }