diff --git a/include/fmt/os.h b/include/fmt/os.h
index d94075a8fe5f1..e39f38cd815f6 100644
--- a/include/fmt/os.h
+++ b/include/fmt/os.h
@@ -337,6 +337,11 @@ class FMT_API file {
   // Creates a buffered_file object associated with this file and detaches
   // this file object from the file.
   buffered_file fdopen(const char* mode);
+
+  # if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__MINGW32__)
+  // Opens a file and constructs a file object representing this file by wcstring_view filename. Windows only.
+  static file open_windows_file(wcstring_view path, int oflag);
+  #endif
 };
 
 // Returns the memory page size.
diff --git a/src/os.cc b/src/os.cc
index 75befaf52c8a2..7873fe6f0cc6b 100644
--- a/src/os.cc
+++ b/src/os.cc
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ file::file(cstring_view path, int oflag) {
       S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP | S_IROTH | S_IWOTH;
 #  if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__MINGW32__)
   fd_ = -1;
-  FMT_POSIX_CALL(sopen_s(&fd_, path.c_str(), oflag, _SH_DENYNO, mode));
+  auto converted = detail::utf8_to_utf16(string_view(path.c_str()));
+  FMT_POSIX_CALL(wsopen_s(&fd_, converted.c_str(), oflag, _SH_DENYNO, mode));
 #  else
   FMT_RETRY(fd_, FMT_POSIX_CALL(open(path.c_str(), oflag, mode)));
 #  endif
@@ -353,6 +354,20 @@ buffered_file file::fdopen(const char* mode) {
   return bf;
 }
 
+#  if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__MINGW32__)
+file file::open_windows_file(wcstring_view path, int oflag) {
+  int fd_ = -1;
+  using mode_t = int;
+  constexpr mode_t mode =
+      S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP | S_IROTH | S_IWOTH;
+  FMT_POSIX_CALL(wsopen_s(&fd_, path.c_str(), oflag, _SH_DENYNO, mode));
+  if (fd_ == -1)
+    FMT_THROW(system_error(errno, FMT_STRING("cannot open file {}"),
+                           detail::utf16_to_utf8(path.c_str()).c_str()));
+  return file(fd_);
+}
+#  endif
+
 long getpagesize() {
 #  ifdef _WIN32
   SYSTEM_INFO si;
diff --git a/test/os-test.cc b/test/os-test.cc
index d93c553dc6b91..1fb67fe8f2f6b 100644
--- a/test/os-test.cc
+++ b/test/os-test.cc
@@ -127,6 +127,15 @@ TEST(os_test, report_windows_error) {
                fmt::to_string(out));
 }
 
+TEST(file_test, open_windows_file) {
+  using fmt::file;
+  file out = file::open_windows_file(L"test-file",
+                                     file::WRONLY | file::CREATE | file::TRUNC);
+  out.write("x", 1);
+  file in = file::open_windows_file(L"test-file", file::RDONLY);
+  EXPECT_READ(in, "x");
+}
+
 #endif  // _WIN32
 
 #if FMT_USE_FCNTL
diff --git a/test/posix-mock-test.cc b/test/posix-mock-test.cc
index 819a94dfbcdf4..5fd5251fddcfe 100644
--- a/test/posix-mock-test.cc
+++ b/test/posix-mock-test.cc
@@ -78,6 +78,11 @@ errno_t test::sopen_s(int* pfh, const char* filename, int oflag, int shflag,
   EMULATE_EINTR(open, EINTR);
   return _sopen_s(pfh, filename, oflag, shflag, pmode);
 }
+errno_t test::wsopen_s(int* pfh, const wchar_t* filename, int oflag, int shflag,
+                       int pmode) {
+  EMULATE_EINTR(open, EINTR);
+  return _wsopen_s(pfh, filename, oflag, shflag, pmode);
+}
 #endif
 
 #ifndef _WIN32
diff --git a/test/posix-mock.h b/test/posix-mock.h
index e76af70022403..bbb9ab7792a62 100644
--- a/test/posix-mock.h
+++ b/test/posix-mock.h
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ typedef unsigned size_t;
 typedef int ssize_t;
 errno_t sopen_s(int* pfh, const char* filename, int oflag, int shflag,
                 int pmode);
+errno_t wsopen_s(int* pfh, const wchar_t* filename, int oflag, int shflag,
+                int pmode);
 #endif
 
 #ifndef _WIN32