diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5ce689ea8d..adeedb9ff6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ add_definitions(-D_USE_MATH_DEFINES)
 
 # Let CMake handle setting C++11 (since 3.1)
 if(NOT CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD)
-  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
 endif()
 set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 11)
 
diff --git a/src/celcompat/string.h b/src/celcompat/string.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d4bdf3b483
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/celcompat/string.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <string>
+
+namespace compat
+{
+#if __has_cpp_attribute(__cpp_char8_t)
+    using char8_t = std::char8_t;
+    using u8string = std::u8string;
+#else
+    using char8_t = unsigned char;
+    using u8string = std::basic_string<char8_t>;
+#endif
+}