diff --git a/include/git2/windows.h b/include/git2/windows.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6a2e9e2cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/git2/windows.h
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
+ * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ */
+#ifndef INCLUDE_git_windows_h__
+#define INCLUDE_git_windows_h__
+
+#include "common.h"
+
+/**
+ * @file git2/windows.h
+ * @brief Windows-specific functions
+ * @ingroup Git
+ * @{
+ */
+GIT_BEGIN_DECL
+
+/**
+ * Set the active codepage for Windows syscalls
+ *
+ * All syscalls performed by the library will assume
+ * this codepage when converting paths and strings
+ * to use by the Windows kernel.
+ *
+ * The default value of UTF-8 will work automatically
+ * with most Git repositories created on Unix systems.
+ *
+ * This settings needs only be changed when working
+ * with repositories that contain paths in specific,
+ * non-UTF codepages.
+ *
+ * A full list of all available codepage identifiers may
+ * be found at:
+ *
+ * http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd317756(v=vs.85).aspx
+ *
+ * @param codepage numeric codepage identifier
+ */
+GIT_EXTERN(void) gitwin_set_codepage(unsigned int codepage);
+
+/**
+ * Return the active codepage for Windows syscalls
+ *
+ * @return numeric codepage identifier
+ */
+GIT_EXTERN(unsigned int) gitwin_get_codepage(void);
+
+/**
+ * Set the active Windows codepage to UTF-8 (this is
+ * the default value)
+ */
+GIT_EXTERN(void) gitwin_set_utf8(void);
+
+/** @} */
+GIT_END_DECL
+#endif
+
diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index f53afa145..ad6f88575 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ static int win32_find_system(char *system_config_path)
 		return GIT_ENOTFOUND;
 	}
 
-	apphome_utf8 = conv_utf16_to_utf8(apphome_utf16);
+	apphome_utf8 = gitwin_from_utf16(apphome_utf16);
 	free(apphome_utf16);
 
 	if (strlen(apphome_utf8) >= GIT_PATH_MAX) {
diff --git a/src/win32/dir.c b/src/win32/dir.c
index ab50318e3..fea74b4eb 100644
--- a/src/win32/dir.c
+++ b/src/win32/dir.c
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
  */
 #define GIT__WIN32_NO_WRAP_DIR
 #include "dir.h"
-#include "utf8-conv.h"
+#include "utf-conv.h"
+#include "git2/windows.h"
 
 static int init_filter(char *filter, size_t n, const char *dir)
 {
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@ git__DIR *git__opendir(const char *dir)
 	}
 	strcpy(new->dir, dir);
 
-	filter_w = conv_utf8_to_utf16(filter);
+	filter_w = gitwin_to_utf16(filter);
 	new->h = FindFirstFileW(filter_w, &new->f);
 	free(filter_w);
 
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ struct git__dirent *git__readdir(git__DIR *d)
 		return NULL;
 
 	d->entry.d_ino = 0;
-	WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, d->f.cFileName, -1, d->entry.d_name, GIT_PATH_MAX, NULL, NULL);
+	WideCharToMultiByte(gitwin_get_codepage(), 0, d->f.cFileName, -1, d->entry.d_name, GIT_PATH_MAX, NULL, NULL);
 
 	return &d->entry;
 }
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ void git__rewinddir(git__DIR *d)
 		d->first = 0;
 
 		if (init_filter(filter, sizeof(filter), d->dir)) {
-			filter_w = conv_utf8_to_utf16(filter);
+			filter_w = gitwin_to_utf16(filter);
 			d->h = FindFirstFileW(filter_w, &d->f);
 			free(filter_w);
 
diff --git a/src/win32/posix.h b/src/win32/posix.h
index 442717e42..3774e7883 100644
--- a/src/win32/posix.h
+++ b/src/win32/posix.h
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 #include "common.h"
 #include "fnmatch.h"
-#include "utf8-conv.h"
+#include "utf-conv.h"
 
 GIT_INLINE(int) p_link(const char *GIT_UNUSED(old), const char *GIT_UNUSED(new))
 {
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ GIT_INLINE(int) p_link(const char *GIT_UNUSED(old), const char *GIT_UNUSED(new))
 
 GIT_INLINE(int) p_mkdir(const char *path, int GIT_UNUSED(mode))
 {
-	wchar_t* buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t* buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	int ret = _wmkdir(buf);
 
 	GIT_UNUSED_ARG(mode)
diff --git a/src/win32/posix_w32.c b/src/win32/posix_w32.c
index cc17cc71f..a05aafcca 100644
--- a/src/win32/posix_w32.c
+++ b/src/win32/posix_w32.c
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  */
 #include "posix.h"
 #include "path.h"
-#include "utf8-conv.h"
+#include "utf-conv.h"
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <io.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ int p_unlink(const char *path)
 	int ret = 0;
 	wchar_t* buf;
 
-	buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	_wchmod(buf, 0666);
 	ret = _wunlink(buf);
 	free(buf);
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ GIT_INLINE(time_t) filetime_to_time_t(const FILETIME *ft)
 static int do_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
 {
 	WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA fdata;
-	wchar_t* fbuf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(file_name);
+	wchar_t* fbuf = gitwin_to_utf16(file_name);
 
 	if (GetFileAttributesExW(fbuf, GetFileExInfoStandard, &fdata)) {
 		int fMode = S_IREAD;
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ int p_readlink(const char *link, char *target, size_t target_len)
 				"'GetFinalPathNameByHandleW' is not available in this platform");
 	}
 
-	link_w = conv_utf8_to_utf16(link);
+	link_w = gitwin_to_utf16(link);
 
 	hFile = CreateFileW(link_w,			// file to open
 			GENERIC_READ,			// open for reading
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ int p_readlink(const char *link, char *target, size_t target_len)
 int p_open(const char *path, int flags)
 {
 	int fd;
-	wchar_t* buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t* buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	fd = _wopen(buf, flags | _O_BINARY);
 
 	free(buf);
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ int p_open(const char *path, int flags)
 int p_creat(const char *path, int mode)
 {
 	int fd;
-	wchar_t* buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t* buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	fd = _wopen(buf, _O_WRONLY | _O_CREAT | _O_TRUNC | _O_BINARY, mode);
 
 	free(buf);
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ int p_stat(const char* path, struct stat* buf)
 
 int p_chdir(const char* path)
 {
-	wchar_t* buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t* buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	int ret = _wchdir(buf);
 
 	free(buf);
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ int p_chdir(const char* path)
 
 int p_chmod(const char* path, int mode)
 {
-	wchar_t* buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t* buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	int ret = _wchmod(buf, mode);
 
 	free(buf);
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ int p_chmod(const char* path, int mode)
 
 int p_rmdir(const char* path)
 {
-	wchar_t* buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t* buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	int ret = _wrmdir(buf);
 
 	free(buf);
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ int p_rmdir(const char* path)
 int p_hide_directory__w32(const char *path)
 {
 	int error;
-	wchar_t* buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t* buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 
 	error = SetFileAttributesW(buf, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN) != 0 ?
 		GIT_SUCCESS : GIT_ERROR; /* MSDN states a "non zero" value indicates a success */
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ int p_hide_directory__w32(const char *path)
 char *p_realpath(const char *orig_path, char *buffer)
 {
 	int ret, alloc = 0;
-	wchar_t* orig_path_w = conv_utf8_to_utf16(orig_path);
+	wchar_t* orig_path_w = gitwin_to_utf16(orig_path);
 	wchar_t* buffer_w = (wchar_t*)git__malloc(GIT_PATH_MAX * sizeof(wchar_t));
 
 	if (buffer == NULL) {
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ int p_setenv(const char* name, const char* value, int overwrite)
 
 int p_access(const char* path, int mode)
 {
-	wchar_t *buf = conv_utf8_to_utf16(path);
+	wchar_t *buf = gitwin_to_utf16(path);
 	int ret;
 
 	ret = _waccess(buf, mode);
diff --git a/src/win32/utf8-conv.c b/src/win32/utf-conv.c
similarity index 61%
rename from src/win32/utf8-conv.c
rename to src/win32/utf-conv.c
index dec6f8e79..cb607839e 100644
--- a/src/win32/utf8-conv.c
+++ b/src/win32/utf-conv.c
@@ -6,9 +6,29 @@
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
-#include "utf8-conv.h"
+#include "utf-conv.h"
 
-wchar_t* conv_utf8_to_utf16(const char* str)
+/*
+ * Default codepage value
+ */
+static int _active_codepage = CP_UTF8;
+
+void gitwin_set_codepage(unsigned int codepage)
+{
+	_active_codepage = codepage;
+}
+
+unsigned int gitwin_get_codepage(void)
+{
+	return _active_codepage;
+}
+
+void gitwin_set_utf8(void)
+{
+	_active_codepage = CP_UTF8;
+}
+
+wchar_t* gitwin_to_utf16(const char* str)
 {
 	wchar_t* ret;
 	int cb;
@@ -29,7 +49,7 @@ wchar_t* conv_utf8_to_utf16(const char* str)
 
 	ret = (wchar_t*)git__malloc(cb);
 
-	if (MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, str, -1, ret, cb) == 0) {
+	if (MultiByteToWideChar(_active_codepage, 0, str, -1, ret, cb) == 0) {
 		free(ret);
 		ret = NULL;
 	}
@@ -37,7 +57,7 @@ wchar_t* conv_utf8_to_utf16(const char* str)
 	return ret;
 }
 
-char* conv_utf16_to_utf8(const wchar_t* str)
+char* gitwin_from_utf16(const wchar_t* str)
 {
 	char* ret;
 	int cb;
@@ -58,7 +78,7 @@ char* conv_utf16_to_utf8(const wchar_t* str)
 
 	ret = (char*)git__malloc(cb);
 
-	if (WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, str, -1, ret, cb, NULL, NULL) == 0) {
+	if (WideCharToMultiByte(_active_codepage, 0, str, -1, ret, cb, NULL, NULL) == 0) {
 		free(ret);
 		ret = NULL;
 	}
diff --git a/src/win32/utf8-conv.h b/src/win32/utf-conv.h
similarity index 59%
rename from src/win32/utf8-conv.h
rename to src/win32/utf-conv.h
index 1967ac3a1..da03e3385 100644
--- a/src/win32/utf8-conv.h
+++ b/src/win32/utf-conv.h
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@
 
 #include <wchar.h>
 
-#ifndef INCLUDE_git_utf8conv_h__
-#define INCLUDE_git_utf8conv_h__
+#ifndef INCLUDE_git_utfconv_h__
+#define INCLUDE_git_utfconv_h__
 
-wchar_t* conv_utf8_to_utf16(const char* str);
-char* conv_utf16_to_utf8(const wchar_t* str);
+wchar_t* gitwin_to_utf16(const char* str);
+char* gitwin_from_utf16(const wchar_t* str);
 
 #endif