diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 38d820bb2..2b6445045 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ else()
     include(cmake/conan_build.cmake)
 endif()
 
+add_compile_options("$<$<C_COMPILER_ID:MSVC>:/utf-8>")
+add_compile_options("$<$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:MSVC>:/utf-8>")
 
 #############################################################
 # LIBRARY
diff --git a/src/xml_parsing.cpp b/src/xml_parsing.cpp
index adb8c8247..9bcfac08d 100644
--- a/src/xml_parsing.cpp
+++ b/src/xml_parsing.cpp
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <typeindex>
 
+#define __bt_cplusplus __cplusplus
+#if defined(_MSVC_LANG) && !defined(__clang__)
+#define __bt_cplusplus (_MSC_VER == 1900 ? 201103L : _MSVC_LANG)
+#endif
+
 #if defined(__linux) || defined(__linux__)
 #pragma GCC diagnostic push
 #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wattributes"
 #endif
 
+
 #include <map>
 #include "behaviortree_cpp/xml_parsing.h"
 #include "tinyxml2/tinyxml2.h"
@@ -37,6 +43,8 @@
 #include <ament_index_cpp/get_package_share_directory.hpp>
 #endif
 
+#include <iso646.h>
+
 #include "behaviortree_cpp/blackboard.h"
 #include "behaviortree_cpp/tree_node.h"
 #include "behaviortree_cpp/utils/demangle_util.h"
@@ -254,7 +262,12 @@ void XMLParser::PImpl::loadDocImpl(XMLDocument* doc, bool add_includes)
       break;
     }
 
-    std::filesystem::path file_path(incl_node->Attribute("path"));
+#if __bt_cplusplus >= 202002L
+    auto file_path(incl_node->Attribute("path"));
+#else
+    auto file_path(std::filesystem::u8path(incl_node->Attribute("path")));
+#endif
+
     const char* ros_pkg_relative_path = incl_node->Attribute("ros_pkg");
 
     if(ros_pkg_relative_path)