diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc b/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc
index 881a499f..e641450d 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc
@@ -242,6 +242,37 @@ Mu::date_to_time_t_string(int64_t t)
 	return buf;
 }
 
+std::string
+Mu::time_to_string(const std::string& frm, time_t t, bool utc)
+{
+	GDateTime* dt = [&] {
+		if (utc)
+			return g_date_time_new_from_unix_utc(t);
+		else
+			return g_date_time_new_from_unix_local(t);
+	}();
+
+	char* str = g_date_time_format(dt, frm.c_str());
+	g_date_time_unref(dt);
+	if (!str) {
+		g_warning("failed to format time");
+		return {};
+	}
+
+	/* ensure it's utf8 */
+	char* utf8_str = g_locale_to_utf8(str, -1, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+	g_free(str);
+	if (!utf8_str) {
+		g_warning("failed to convert date to utf8");
+		return {};
+	}
+
+	std::string res{utf8_str};
+	g_free(utf8_str);
+
+	return res;
+}
+
 static std::string
 delta_ymwdhMs(const std::string& expr)
 {
diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
index e8c7f2b5..d1ed7e59 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
@@ -129,6 +129,19 @@ std::string date_to_time_t_string(const std::string& date, bool first);
  */
 std::string date_to_time_t_string(int64_t t);
 
+/**
+ * Get a string for a given time_t and format
+ * memory that must be freed after use.
+ *
+ * @param frm the format of the string (in strftime(3) format)
+ * @param t the time as time_t
+ * @param utc whether to display as UTC(if true) or local time
+ *
+ * @return a string representation of the time in UTF8-format, or empty in case
+ * of error.
+ */
+std::string time_to_string(const std::string& frm, time_t t, bool utc = false) G_GNUC_CONST;
+
 /**
  * Create a std::string by consuming a gchar* array; this takes ownership
  * of str which should no longer be used.