diff --git a/include/nlohmann/detail/conversions/to_json.hpp b/include/nlohmann/detail/conversions/to_json.hpp
index 8b8c68636b..5775d3e6a0 100644
--- a/include/nlohmann/detail/conversions/to_json.hpp
+++ b/include/nlohmann/detail/conversions/to_json.hpp
@@ -435,7 +435,11 @@ inline void to_json(BasicJsonType& j, const T& t)
 template<typename BasicJsonType>
 inline void to_json(BasicJsonType& j, const std_fs::path& p)
 {
-    j = p.string();
+#if defined __cpp_lib_char8_t
+    j = reinterpret_cast<char const*>(p.u8string().data());
+#else
+    j = p.u8string();
+#endif
 }
 #endif