diff --git a/Tools/PyUtils/python/RootUtils.py b/Tools/PyUtils/python/RootUtils.py
index e38d160e1611a96117df25545cddc2cc11fa1d27..266093d052ecc637b3317b0cbf39ad398bc638f0 100644
--- a/Tools/PyUtils/python/RootUtils.py
+++ b/Tools/PyUtils/python/RootUtils.py
@@ -201,7 +201,10 @@ def _getLeaf (l):
     if tname in ['Float_t', 'Double_t']:
         return [l.GetValue(i) for i in range(ndat)]
     if tname in ['Char_t']:
-        return l.GetValueString()
+        try:
+            return l.GetValueString() # TLeafC for variable size string
+        except:
+            return [l.GetValue(i) for i in range(ndat)] # TLeafB for 8-bit integers
     return None
 
 class RootFileDumper(object):