diff --git a/distributed/protocol/utils.py b/distributed/protocol/utils.py
index fd50b6ca094..8dc75a28c63 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/utils.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/utils.py
@@ -120,8 +120,11 @@ def unpack_frames(b):
     --------
     pack_frames
     """
+    b = memoryview(b)
+
     fmt = "Q"
     fmt_size = struct.calcsize(fmt)
+
     (n_frames,) = struct.unpack_from(fmt, b)
     lengths = struct.unpack_from(f"{n_frames}{fmt}", b, fmt_size)