diff --git a/samples/exiv2json.cpp b/samples/exiv2json.cpp
index 795e9871..ba754c0c 100644
--- a/samples/exiv2json.cpp
+++ b/samples/exiv2json.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <exiv2/exiv2.hpp>
 #include "Jzon.h"
 
+#include <filesystem>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <cassert>
@@ -41,20 +42,6 @@
 # endif
 #endif
 
-#if defined(_MSC_VER) || defined(__MINGW__)
-#include <windows.h>
-#ifndef  PATH_MAX
-# define PATH_MAX 512
-#endif
-const char* realpath(const char* file,char* path)
-{
-    GetFullPathName(file,PATH_MAX,path,NULL);
-    return path;
-}
-#else
-#include <unistd.h>
-#endif
-
 struct Token {
     std::string n; // the name eg "History"
     bool        a; // name is an array eg History[]
@@ -249,8 +236,7 @@ void fileSystemPush(const char* path,Jzon::Node& nfs)
 {
     auto& fs = dynamic_cast<Jzon::Object&>(nfs);
     fs.Add("path",path);
-    char resolved_path[2000]; // PATH_MAX];
-    fs.Add("realpath",realpath(path,resolved_path));
+    fs.Add("realpath", std::filesystem::absolute(std::filesystem::path(path)).string());
 
     struct stat buf;
     memset(&buf,0,sizeof(buf));
diff --git a/samples/geotag.cpp b/samples/geotag.cpp
index d873a495..544dad44 100644
--- a/samples/geotag.cpp
+++ b/samples/geotag.cpp
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <exiv2/exiv2.hpp>
 #include "unused.h"
 
+#include <filesystem>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <cassert>
@@ -84,17 +85,6 @@ string getExifTime(time_t t);
 time_t parseTime(const char* ,bool bAdjust=false);
 int    timeZoneAdjust();
 
-// platform specific code
-#if defined(_MSC_VER) || defined(__MINGW__)
-char* realpath(const char* file,char* path)
-{
-    char* result = (char*) malloc(_MAX_PATH);
-    if   (result) GetFullPathName(file,_MAX_PATH,result,NULL);
-    return result ;
-    UNUSED(path);
-}
-#endif
-
 // Command-line parser
 class Options  {
 public:
@@ -838,19 +828,13 @@ int main(int argc,const char* argv[])
                 if ( options.verbose ) printf("%s %s ",arg,types[type]) ;
                 if ( type == typeImage ) {
                     time_t t    = readImageTime(std::string(arg)) ;
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-                    char   buffer[1024];
-#else
-                    char* buffer = nullptr;
-#endif
-                    char*  path = realpath(arg,buffer);
-                    if  ( t && path ) {
+                    auto p = std::filesystem::absolute(std::filesystem::path(arg));
+                    std::string path = p.string();
+                    if  ( t && !path.empty() ) {
                         if (options.verbose)
-                            printf("%s %ld %s", path, static_cast<long int>(t), asctime(localtime(&t)));
+                            printf("%s %ld %s", path.c_str(), static_cast<long int>(t), asctime(localtime(&t)));
                         gFiles.push_back(path);
                     }
-                    if (path && path != buffer)
-                        ::free(path);
                 }
                 if ( type == typeUnknown ) {
                     fprintf(stderr,"error: illegal syntax %s\n",arg);
diff --git a/src/actions.cpp b/src/actions.cpp
index 1c6899d6..2d12fda6 100644
--- a/src/actions.cpp
+++ b/src/actions.cpp
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 #include "i18n.h"                // NLS support.
 
 // + standard includes
+#include <filesystem>
 #include <string>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <iomanip>
@@ -69,6 +70,8 @@
 #define _setmode(a,b)
 #endif
 
+namespace fs = std::filesystem;
+
 // *****************************************************************************
 // local declarations
 namespace {
@@ -1786,29 +1789,25 @@ namespace {
         return os.str();
     } // tm2Str
 
- std::string temporaryPath()
- {
-     static int count = 0;
-     std::lock_guard<std::mutex> guard(cs);
+    std::string temporaryPath()
+    {
+        static int count = 0;
+        std::lock_guard<std::mutex> guard(cs);
 
 #if defined(_MSC_VER) || defined(__MINGW__)
-        char lpTempPathBuffer[MAX_PATH];
-        GetTempPath(MAX_PATH,lpTempPathBuffer);
-        std::string tmp(lpTempPathBuffer);
-        tmp += "\\";
         HANDLE process=0;
         DWORD  pid = ::GetProcessId(process);
 #else
         pid_t  pid = ::getpid();
-        std::string tmp = "/tmp/";
 #endif
-    std::string result = tmp + Exiv2::toString(pid) + "_" + std::to_string(count);
-    if (Exiv2::fileExists(result)) {
-        std::remove(result.c_str());
-    }
+        /// \todo check if we can use std::tmpnam
+        auto p = fs::temp_directory_path() / (Exiv2::toString(pid) + "_" + std::to_string(count));
+        if (fs::exists(p)) {
+            fs::remove(p);
+        }
 
-    return result;
- }
+        return p.string();
+    }
 
     int metacopy(const std::string& source,
                  const std::string& tgt,