diff --git a/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.cpp b/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.cpp
index 848f785..18546d0 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.cpp
+++ b/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.cpp
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 */
 
 #include "alpr_impl.h"
-#include "support/utf8.h"
 
 
 void plateAnalysisThread(void* arg);
diff --git a/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.h b/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.h
index df2b7e3..1cea1ca 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.h
+++ b/src/openalpr/alpr_impl.h
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 #include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
    
 #include "support/platform.h"
+#include "support/utf8.h"
 
 #define DEFAULT_TOPN 25
 #define DEFAULT_DETECT_REGION false
diff --git a/src/openalpr/support/utf8.cpp b/src/openalpr/support/utf8.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6131f17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/openalpr/support/utf8.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#include "utf8.h"
+
+
+std::string utf8chr(int cp)
+{
+    char c[5]={ 0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00 };
+    if     (cp<=0x7F) { c[0] = cp;  }
+    else if(cp<=0x7FF) { c[0] = (cp>>6)+192; c[1] = (cp&63)+128; }
+    else if(0xd800<=cp && cp<=0xdfff) {} //invalid block of utf8
+    else if(cp<=0xFFFF) { c[0] = (cp>>12)+224; c[1]= ((cp>>6)&63)+128; c[2]=(cp&63)+128; }
+    else if(cp<=0x10FFFF) { c[0] = (cp>>18)+240; c[1] = ((cp>>12)&63)+128; c[2] = ((cp>>6)&63)+128; c[3]=(cp&63)+128; }
+    return std::string(c);
+}
+int codepoint(const std::string &u)
+{
+    int l = u.length();
+    if (l<1) return -1; unsigned char u0 = u[0]; if (u0>=0   && u0<=127) return u0;
+    if (l<2) return -1; unsigned char u1 = u[1]; if (u0>=192 && u0<=223) return (u0-192)*64 + (u1-128);
+    if (u[0]==0xed && (u[1] & 0xa0) == 0xa0) return -1; //code points, 0xd800 to 0xdfff
+    if (l<3) return -1; unsigned char u2 = u[2]; if (u0>=224 && u0<=239) return (u0-224)*4096 + (u1-128)*64 + (u2-128);
+    if (l<4) return -1; unsigned char u3 = u[3]; if (u0>=240 && u0<=247) return (u0-240)*262144 + (u1-128)*4096 + (u2-128)*64 + (u3-128);
+    return -1;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/openalpr/support/utf8.h b/src/openalpr/support/utf8.h
index 2c00d00..ffc6f81 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/support/utf8.h
+++ b/src/openalpr/support/utf8.h
@@ -31,25 +31,7 @@ DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 #include "utf8/checked.h"
 #include "utf8/unchecked.h"
 
-std::string utf8chr(int cp)
-{
-    char c[5]={ 0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00 };
-    if     (cp<=0x7F) { c[0] = cp;  }
-    else if(cp<=0x7FF) { c[0] = (cp>>6)+192; c[1] = (cp&63)+128; }
-    else if(0xd800<=cp && cp<=0xdfff) {} //invalid block of utf8
-    else if(cp<=0xFFFF) { c[0] = (cp>>12)+224; c[1]= ((cp>>6)&63)+128; c[2]=(cp&63)+128; }
-    else if(cp<=0x10FFFF) { c[0] = (cp>>18)+240; c[1] = ((cp>>12)&63)+128; c[2] = ((cp>>6)&63)+128; c[3]=(cp&63)+128; }
-    return std::string(c);
-}
-int codepoint(const std::string &u)
-{
-    int l = u.length();
-    if (l<1) return -1; unsigned char u0 = u[0]; if (u0>=0   && u0<=127) return u0;
-    if (l<2) return -1; unsigned char u1 = u[1]; if (u0>=192 && u0<=223) return (u0-192)*64 + (u1-128);
-    if (u[0]==0xed && (u[1] & 0xa0) == 0xa0) return -1; //code points, 0xd800 to 0xdfff
-    if (l<3) return -1; unsigned char u2 = u[2]; if (u0>=224 && u0<=239) return (u0-224)*4096 + (u1-128)*64 + (u2-128);
-    if (l<4) return -1; unsigned char u3 = u[3]; if (u0>=240 && u0<=247) return (u0-240)*262144 + (u1-128)*4096 + (u2-128)*64 + (u3-128);
-    return -1;
-}
-
+std::string utf8chr(int cp);
+int codepoint(const std::string &u);
+  
 #endif // header guard