diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b0cc9cc..59e925e 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ project('lel-guecs', 'cpp',
 
 # use this for common options only for our executables
 cpp_args=[
-  '-Wno-deprecated-declarations'
+  '-Wno-deprecated-declarations',
+  '-I../subprojects/utf8cpp-4.0.9/source',
   ]
 link_args=[]
 # these are passed as override_defaults
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ catch2 = subproject('catch2').get_variable('catch2_with_main_dep')
 fmt = subproject('fmt').get_variable('fmt_dep')
 json = subproject('nlohmann_json').get_variable('nlohmann_json_dep')
 freetype2 = subproject('freetype2').get_variable('freetype_dep')
+utf8cpp = subproject('utf8cpp').get_variable('utf8cpp_dep')
 
 flac = subproject('flac').get_variable('flac_dep')
 ogg = subproject('ogg').get_variable('libogg_dep')
@@ -64,7 +66,7 @@ sfml_window = subproject('sfml').get_variable('sfml_window_dep')
 lib_depends = [ fmt, sfml_graphics, sfml_system, sfml_window ]
 
 lib_sfml_depends = [
-  fmt, json, freetype2, flac, ogg,
+  fmt, json, freetype2, flac, ogg, utf8cpp,
   vorbis, vorbisfile, vorbisenc, sfml_audio,
 ]
 
diff --git a/src/guecs/ui.cpp b/src/guecs/ui.cpp
index 74ad78d..7fe3f58 100644
--- a/src/guecs/ui.cpp
+++ b/src/guecs/ui.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <cassert>
 #include <fmt/core.h>
 #include <iostream>
+#include <utf8.h>
 
 namespace guecs {
   using std::make_shared;
@@ -237,7 +238,14 @@ namespace guecs {
   }
 
   wstring to_wstring(const string& str) {
-    std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8_utf16<wchar_t>> $converter;
-    return $converter.from_bytes(str);
+    std::wstring result = L"";
+
+    try {
+      utf8::utf8to32(str.begin(), str.end(), std::back_inserter(result));
+    } catch(const utf8::exception& e) {
+      std::cerr << e.what() << std::endl;
+    }
+
+    return result;
   }
 }
diff --git a/wraps/utf8cpp.wrap b/wraps/utf8cpp.wrap
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1ae900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wraps/utf8cpp.wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[wrap-git]
+directory=utf8cpp-4.0.9
+url=https://github.com/nemtrif/utfcpp.git
+revision=v4.0.9
+depth=1
+method=cmake
+
+[provide]
+utf8cpp = utf8cpp_dep