diff --git a/crates/mdbook-core/src/utils/fs.rs b/crates/mdbook-core/src/utils/fs.rs
index d32f5705..ebc7dc63 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-core/src/utils/fs.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-core/src/utils/fs.rs
@@ -6,14 +6,6 @@ use std::io::Write;
 use std::path::{Component, Path, PathBuf};
 use tracing::{debug, trace};
 
-/// Naively replaces any path separator with a forward-slash '/'
-pub fn normalize_path(path: &str) -> String {
-    use std::path::is_separator;
-    path.chars()
-        .map(|ch| if is_separator(ch) { '/' } else { ch })
-        .collect::<String>()
-}
-
 /// Write the given data to a file, creating it first if necessary
 pub fn write_file<P: AsRef<Path>>(build_dir: &Path, filename: P, content: &[u8]) -> Result<()> {
     let path = build_dir.join(filename);
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
index a0f01c7a..373b5e1e 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use super::helpers;
 use super::static_files::StaticFiles;
 use crate::theme::Theme;
+use crate::utils::ToUrlPath;
 use anyhow::{Context, Result, bail};
 use handlebars::Handlebars;
 use mdbook_core::book::{Book, BookItem, Chapter};
@@ -122,9 +123,7 @@ impl HtmlHandlebars {
                 .as_ref()
                 .unwrap()
                 .with_extension("html")
-                .to_str()
-                .unwrap()
-                .replace('\\', "//");
+                .to_url_path();
             let obj = json!( {
                 "title": ch.name,
                 "link": path,
@@ -1054,7 +1053,7 @@ fn collect_redirects_for_path(
     path: &Path,
     redirects: &HashMap<String, String>,
 ) -> Result<BTreeMap<String, String>> {
-    let path = format!("/{}", path.display().to_string().replace('\\', "/"));
+    let path = format!("/{}", path.to_url_path());
     if redirects.contains_key(&path) {
         bail!(
             "redirect found for existing chapter at `{path}`\n\
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/helpers/toc.rs b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/helpers/toc.rs
index cd876e08..d299803d 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/helpers/toc.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/helpers/toc.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use crate::utils::ToUrlPath;
 use std::path::Path;
 use std::{cmp::Ordering, collections::BTreeMap};
 
@@ -109,12 +110,7 @@ impl HelperDef for RenderToc {
             let path_exists = match item.get("path") {
                 Some(path) if !path.is_empty() => {
                     out.write("<a href=\"")?;
-                    let tmp = Path::new(path)
-                        .with_extension("html")
-                        .to_str()
-                        .unwrap()
-                        // Hack for windows who tends to use `\` as separator instead of `/`
-                        .replace('\\', "/");
+                    let tmp = Path::new(path).with_extension("html").to_url_path();
 
                     // Add link
                     out.write(&tmp)?;
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs
index 9575ea31..4f673511 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use super::static_files::StaticFiles;
 use crate::theme::searcher;
-use anyhow::{Context, Result, bail};
+use crate::utils::ToUrlPath;
+use anyhow::{Result, bail};
 use elasticlunr::{Index, IndexBuilder};
 use mdbook_core::book::{Book, BookItem, Chapter};
 use mdbook_core::config::{Search, SearchChapterSettings};
@@ -128,11 +129,9 @@ fn render_item(
         .path
         .as_ref()
         .expect("Checked that path exists above");
-    let filepath = Path::new(&chapter_path).with_extension("html");
-    let filepath = filepath
-        .to_str()
-        .with_context(|| "Could not convert HTML path to str")?;
-    let anchor_base = utils::fs::normalize_path(filepath);
+    let anchor_base = Path::new(&chapter_path)
+        .with_extension("html")
+        .to_url_path();
 
     let options = HtmlRenderOptions::new(&chapter_path);
     let mut p = new_cmark_parser(&chapter.content, &options.markdown_options).peekable();
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-html/src/lib.rs b/crates/mdbook-html/src/lib.rs
index d3025e42..796202c8 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-html/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-html/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 mod html_handlebars;
 pub mod theme;
+pub(crate) mod utils;
 
 pub use html_handlebars::HtmlHandlebars;
 use mdbook_core::config::HtmlConfig;
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-html/src/utils.rs b/crates/mdbook-html/src/utils.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..75f3e4b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/mdbook-html/src/utils.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+//! Utilities for processing HTML.
+
+use std::path::Path;
+
+/// Helper trait for converting a [`Path`] to a string suitable for an HTML path.
+pub(crate) trait ToUrlPath {
+    fn to_url_path(&self) -> String;
+}
+
+impl ToUrlPath for Path {
+    fn to_url_path(&self) -> String {
+        // We're generally assuming that all paths we deal with are utf-8.
+        // The replace here is to handle Windows paths.
+        self.to_str().unwrap().replace('\\', "/")
+    }
+}