diff --git a/code/nel/include/nel/misc/common.h b/code/nel/include/nel/misc/common.h
index 3b5465eaa..23b827a0b 100644
--- a/code/nel/include/nel/misc/common.h
+++ b/code/nel/include/nel/misc/common.h
@@ -282,6 +282,13 @@ inline sint nlstricmp(const std::string &lhs, const std::string &rhs) { return s
 inline sint nlstricmp(const std::string &lhs, const char *rhs) { return stricmp(lhs.c_str(),rhs); }
 inline sint nlstricmp(const char *lhs, const std::string &rhs) { return stricmp(lhs,rhs.c_str()); }
 
+// macros helper to convert UTF-8 std::string and wchar_t*
+#define wideToUtf8(str) (ucstring((ucchar*)str).toUtf8())
+#define utf8ToWide(str) ((wchar_t*)ucstring::makeFromUtf8(str).c_str())
+
+// wrapper for fopen to be able to open files with an UTF-8 filename
+FILE* nlfopen(const std::string &filename, const std::string &mode);
+
 /** Signed 64 bit fseek. Same interface as fseek
   */
 int		nlfseek64( FILE *stream, sint64 offset, int origin );
diff --git a/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp b/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp
index decd52dbf..c1a824b23 100644
--- a/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp
+++ b/code/nel/src/misc/common.cpp
@@ -1099,6 +1099,14 @@ void displayDwordBits( uint32 b, uint nbits, sint beginpos, bool displayBegin, N
 	}
 }
 
+FILE* nlfopen(const std::string &filename, const std::string &mode)
+{
+#ifdef NL_OS_WINDOWS
+	return _wfopen(utf8ToWide(filename), utf8ToWide(mode));
+#else
+	return fopen(filename.c_str(), mode.c_str());
+#endif
+}
 
 int	nlfseek64( FILE *stream, sint64 offset, int origin )
 {