diff --git a/include/exiv2/futils.hpp b/include/exiv2/futils.hpp
index 344f588f..5a322fc9 100644
--- a/include/exiv2/futils.hpp
+++ b/include/exiv2/futils.hpp
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
       @note Be sure to free() the returned string after use
             Source: http://www.geekhideout.com/urlcode.shtml
      */
-    EXIV2API char* urlencode(char* str);
+    EXIV2API std::string urlencode(char *str);
     /*!
       @brief Decode the input url.
       @param str The url needs decoding.
diff --git a/src/basicio.cpp b/src/basicio.cpp
index 798e3885..f6e846f4 100644
--- a/src/basicio.cpp
+++ b/src/basicio.cpp
@@ -2045,7 +2045,7 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
         char* encodeData = new char[encodeLength];
         base64encode(data, size, encodeData, encodeLength);
         // url encode
-        char* urlencodeData = urlencode(encodeData);
+        const std::string urlencodeData = urlencode(encodeData);
         delete[] encodeData;
 
         std::stringstream ss;
@@ -2054,7 +2054,6 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
            << "to="     << to             << "&"
            << "data="   << urlencodeData;
         std::string postData = ss.str();
-        delete[] urlencodeData;
 
         // create the header
         ss.str("");
@@ -2268,7 +2267,7 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
         char* encodeData = new char[encodeLength];
         base64encode(data, size, encodeData, encodeLength);
         // url encode
-        char* urlencodeData = urlencode(encodeData);
+        const std::string urlencodeData = urlencode(encodeData);
         delete[] encodeData;
         std::stringstream ss;
         ss << "path="       << hostInfo.Path << "&"
@@ -2276,7 +2275,6 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
            << "to="         << to            << "&"
            << "data="       << urlencodeData;
         std::string postData = ss.str();
-        delete[] urlencodeData;
 
         curl_easy_setopt(curl_, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, postData.c_str());
         // Perform the request, res will get the return code.
diff --git a/src/futils.cpp b/src/futils.cpp
index f0f9b3a1..8fe1810b 100644
--- a/src/futils.cpp
+++ b/src/futils.cpp
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
         return isdigit(ch) ? ch - '0' : tolower(ch) - 'a' + 10;
     } // from_hex
 
-    char* urlencode(char* str) {
+    std::string urlencode(char* str) {
         char* pstr = str;
         char* buf  = (char*)malloc(strlen(str) * 3 + 1);
         char* pbuf = buf;
@@ -85,8 +85,10 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
             pstr++;
         }
         *pbuf = '\0';
-        return buf;
-    } // urlencode
+        std::string ret(buf);
+        free(buf);
+        return ret;
+    }
 
     char* urldecode(const char* str) {
         const char* pstr = str;
diff --git a/unitTests/test_futils.cpp b/unitTests/test_futils.cpp
index c0aa7dbd..4279d112 100644
--- a/unitTests/test_futils.cpp
+++ b/unitTests/test_futils.cpp
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ TEST(getEnv, throwsWhenKeyDoesNotExist)
 
 TEST(urlencode, encodesGivenUrl)
 {
-    char *url = urlencode("http://www.geekhideout.com/urlcode.shtml");
-    ASSERT_STREQ("http%3a%2f%2fwww.geekhideout.com%2furlcode.shtml", url);
-    free(url);
+    const std::string url = urlencode("http://www.geekhideout.com/urlcode.shtml");
+    ASSERT_STREQ("http%3a%2f%2fwww.geekhideout.com%2furlcode.shtml", url.c_str());
 }