diff --git a/include/dwarfs/util.h b/include/dwarfs/util.h
index 6794d668..db0ea971 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/util.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/util.h
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 #include <cstddef>
 #include <string>
 
+#include "dwarfs/types.h"
+
 namespace dwarfs {
 
 std::string time_with_unit(double sec);
@@ -40,4 +42,6 @@ inline std::string u8string_to_string(std::u8string const& in) {
   return std::string(reinterpret_cast<char const*>(in.data()), in.size());
 }
 
+std::string sys_string_to_string(sys_string const& in);
+
 } // namespace dwarfs
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/util.cpp b/src/dwarfs/util.cpp
index fd869e21..c07ebdb2 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/util.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/util.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 #include <array>
 #include <charconv>
 #include <climits>
+#include <codecvt>
+#include <locale>
 #include <string>
 #include <string_view>
 
@@ -118,4 +120,13 @@ std::chrono::milliseconds parse_time_with_unit(std::string const& str) {
   DWARFS_THROW(runtime_error, "unsupported time suffix");
 }
 
+std::string sys_string_to_string(sys_string const& in) {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  static std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8<wchar_t>, wchar_t> converter;
+  return converter.to_bytes(in);
+#else
+  return in;
+#endif
+}
+
 } // namespace dwarfs