diff --git a/include/dwarfs/util.h b/include/dwarfs/util.h
index d36649d9..5b550e42 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/util.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/util.h
@@ -71,4 +71,6 @@ bool getenv_is_enabled(char const* var);
 
 void setup_default_locale();
 
+std::string_view basename(std::string_view path);
+
 } // namespace dwarfs
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/error.cpp b/src/dwarfs/error.cpp
index f01a58f9..30989408 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/error.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/error.cpp
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 
 #include "dwarfs/error.h"
 #include "dwarfs/terminal.h"
+#include "dwarfs/util.h"
 
 namespace dwarfs {
 
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ namespace {
 } // namespace
 
 error::error(std::string const& s, char const* file, int line) noexcept
-    : what_{fmt::format("{} [{}:{}]", s, file, line)}
+    : what_{fmt::format("{} [{}:{}]", s, basename(file), line)}
     , file_{file}
     , line_{line} {}
 
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/logger.cpp b/src/dwarfs/logger.cpp
index e245ec0b..3ef24a4d 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/logger.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/logger.cpp
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 
 #include <cstring>
 #include <exception>
-#include <filesystem>
 #include <iterator>
 #include <stdexcept>
 
@@ -250,8 +249,7 @@ void stream_logger::set_threshold(level_type threshold) {
 }
 
 std::string get_logger_context(char const* path, int line) {
-  auto base = ::strrchr(path, std::filesystem::path::preferred_separator);
-  return fmt::format("[{0}:{1}] ", base ? base + 1 : path, line);
+  return fmt::format("[{0}:{1}] ", basename(path), line);
 }
 
 std::string get_current_time_string() {
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/util.cpp b/src/dwarfs/util.cpp
index 65b298f4..26a20975 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/util.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/util.cpp
@@ -342,4 +342,12 @@ void setup_default_locale() {
   }
 }
 
+std::string_view basename(std::string_view path) {
+  auto pos = path.find_last_of("/\\");
+  if (pos == std::string_view::npos) {
+    return path;
+  }
+  return path.substr(pos + 1);
+}
+
 } // namespace dwarfs
diff --git a/test/error_test.cpp b/test/error_test.cpp
index 879480a9..8af49575 100644
--- a/test/error_test.cpp
+++ b/test/error_test.cpp
@@ -59,10 +59,10 @@ TEST(error_test, runtime_error) {
     test_throw_runtime_error(true);
     FAIL() << "expected runtime_error to be thrown";
   } catch (const runtime_error& e) {
-    EXPECT_EQ(fmt::format("my test error [{}:{}]", e.file(), e.line()),
-              std::string(e.what()));
     EXPECT_EQ("error_test.cpp",
               std::filesystem::path(e.file()).filename().string());
+    EXPECT_EQ(fmt::format("my test error [error_test.cpp:{}]", e.line()),
+              std::string(e.what()));
     EXPECT_EQ(expected_line, e.line());
   } catch (...) {
     FAIL() << "expected runtime_error, got "