diff --git a/src/file_stat.cpp b/src/file_stat.cpp
index ae1e310c..998abcd0 100644
--- a/src/file_stat.cpp
+++ b/src/file_stat.cpp
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ file_stat::file_stat(fs::path const& path) {
                              status.type() == fs::file_type::not_found
                                  ? "file not found"
                                  : "unknown file type",
-                             u8string_to_string(path.u8string())));
+                             path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(path)));
   }
 
   valid_fields_ = file_stat::mode_valid;
diff --git a/src/writer/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp b/src/writer/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp
index 3e3d9e21..348d767f 100644
--- a/src/writer/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp
+++ b/src/writer/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ class incompressible_categorizer_job_ : public sequential_categorizer_job {
     auto stats = [this] {
       return fmt::format("{} -> incompressible blocks: {}/{}, overall "
                          "compression ratio: {:.2f}%",
-                         u8string_to_string(path_.u8string()),
+                         path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(path_),
                          incompressible_blocks_, total_blocks_,
                          100.0 * total_output_size_ / total_input_size_);
     };
diff --git a/src/writer/internal/entry.cpp b/src/writer/internal/entry.cpp
index 99035b84..74cd0238 100644
--- a/src/writer/internal/entry.cpp
+++ b/src/writer/internal/entry.cpp
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ fs::path entry::fs_path() const {
 }
 
 std::string entry::path_as_string() const {
-  return u8string_to_string(fs_path().u8string());
+  return path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(fs_path());
 }
 
 std::string entry::dpath() const {
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ void dir::remove_empty_dirs(progress& prog) {
 }
 
 std::shared_ptr<entry> dir::find(fs::path const& path) {
-  auto name = u8string_to_string(path.filename().u8string());
+  auto name = path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(path.filename());
 
   if (!lookup_ && entries_.size() >= 16) {
     populate_lookup_table();
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ const std::string& link::linkname() const { return link_; }
 void link::accept(entry_visitor& v, bool) { v.visit(this); }
 
 void link::scan(os_access const& os, progress& prog) {
-  link_ = u8string_to_string(os.read_symlink(fs_path()).u8string());
+  link_ = path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(os.read_symlink(fs_path()));
   prog.original_size += size();
   prog.symlink_size += size();
 }
diff --git a/src/writer/internal/inode_manager.cpp b/src/writer/internal/inode_manager.cpp
index 996553b3..72867a51 100644
--- a/src/writer/internal/inode_manager.cpp
+++ b/src/writer/internal/inode_manager.cpp
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ class inode_ : public inode {
     if (mm) {
       if (auto size = mm->size(); size >= min_size) {
         return prog.create_context<scanner_progress>(
-            context, u8string_to_string(mm->path().u8string()), size);
+            context, path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(mm->path()), size);
       }
     }
     return nullptr;
diff --git a/src/writer/rule_based_entry_filter.cpp b/src/writer/rule_based_entry_filter.cpp
index 44a917f1..60e0a0c7 100644
--- a/src/writer/rule_based_entry_filter.cpp
+++ b/src/writer/rule_based_entry_filter.cpp
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ template <typename LoggerPolicy>
 void rule_based_entry_filter_<LoggerPolicy>::set_root_path(
     fs::path const& path) {
   // TODO: this whole thing needs to be windowsized
-  root_path_ = u8string_to_string(path.u8string());
+  root_path_ = path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(path);
 
   if constexpr (kLocalPathSeparator != '/') {
     // Both '/' and '\\' are, surprisingly, valid path separators on Windows,
diff --git a/src/writer/scanner.cpp b/src/writer/scanner.cpp
index dd5a91a5..1efcbe0c 100644
--- a/src/writer/scanner.cpp
+++ b/src/writer/scanner.cpp
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ scanner_<LoggerPolicy>::add_entry(std::filesystem::path const& name,
 
     default:
       LOG_ERROR << "unsupported entry type: " << int(pe->type()) << " ("
-                << pe->fs_path() << ")";
+                << pe->path_as_string() << ")";
       prog.errors++;
       break;
     }
@@ -553,7 +553,8 @@ scanner_<LoggerPolicy>::scan_tree(std::filesystem::path const& path,
 
       prog.dirs_scanned++;
     } catch (const std::system_error& e) {
-      LOG_ERROR << "cannot read directory `" << ppath
+      LOG_ERROR << "cannot read directory `"
+                << path_to_utf8_string_sanitized(ppath)
                 << "`: " << exception_str(e);
       prog.errors++;
     }