diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.cpp
index 9e7a2be3a8..e9a5a1eb94 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.cpp
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ namespace MWSound
         return dec;
     }
 
-    void FFmpeg_Decoder::open(const std::string& fname)
+    void FFmpeg_Decoder::open(VFS::Path::NormalizedView fname)
     {
         close();
         mDataStream = mResourceMgr->get(fname);
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ namespace MWSound
         formatCtx->pb = ioCtx.get();
 
         // avformat_open_input frees user supplied AVFormatContext on failure
-        if (avformat_open_input(&formatCtx, fname.c_str(), nullptr, nullptr) != 0)
+        if (avformat_open_input(&formatCtx, fname.value().data(), nullptr, nullptr) != 0)
             throw std::runtime_error("Failed to open input");
 
         AVFormatContextPtr formatCtxPtr(std::exchange(formatCtx, nullptr));
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.hpp b/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.hpp
index ed3297403e..264ff8fab7 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.hpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwsound/ffmpeg_decoder.hpp
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ namespace MWSound
         bool getAVAudioData();
         size_t readAVAudioData(void* data, size_t length);
 
-        void open(const std::string& fname) override;
+        void open(VFS::Path::NormalizedView fname) override;
         void close() override;
 
         std::string getName() override;
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwsound/movieaudiofactory.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwsound/movieaudiofactory.cpp
index 1bb5275c45..68ea221321 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwsound/movieaudiofactory.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwsound/movieaudiofactory.cpp
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ namespace MWSound
     private:
         MWSound::MovieAudioDecoder* mDecoder;
 
-        void open(const std::string& fname) override;
-        void close() override;
+        void open(VFS::Path::NormalizedView fname) override { throw std::runtime_error("Method not implemented"); }
+
+        void close() override {}
+
         std::string getName() override;
         void getInfo(int* samplerate, ChannelConfig* chans, SampleType* type) override;
         size_t read(char* buffer, size_t bytes) override;
@@ -92,12 +94,6 @@ namespace MWSound
         std::shared_ptr<MWSoundDecoderBridge> mDecoderBridge;
     };
 
-    void MWSoundDecoderBridge::open(const std::string& fname)
-    {
-        throw std::runtime_error("Method not implemented");
-    }
-    void MWSoundDecoderBridge::close() {}
-
     std::string MWSoundDecoderBridge::getName()
     {
         return mDecoder->getStreamName();
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwsound/sound_decoder.hpp b/apps/openmw/mwsound/sound_decoder.hpp
index f6dcdb7032..17f9d28909 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwsound/sound_decoder.hpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwsound/sound_decoder.hpp
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #ifndef GAME_SOUND_SOUND_DECODER_H
 #define GAME_SOUND_SOUND_DECODER_H
 
+#include <components/vfs/pathutil.hpp>
+
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
@@ -36,7 +38,7 @@ namespace MWSound
     {
         const VFS::Manager* mResourceMgr;
 
-        virtual void open(const std::string& fname) = 0;
+        virtual void open(VFS::Path::NormalizedView fname) = 0;
         virtual void close() = 0;
 
         virtual std::string getName() = 0;
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwsound/soundmanagerimp.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwsound/soundmanagerimp.cpp
index 4c3f227ecd..039c283d7a 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwsound/soundmanagerimp.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwsound/soundmanagerimp.cpp
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ namespace MWSound
         DecoderPtr decoder = getDecoder();
         try
         {
-            decoder->open(filename);
+            decoder->open(VFS::Path::Normalized(filename));
         }
         catch (std::exception& e)
         {