diff --git a/src/core.rs b/src/core.rs
index b867cadfc..717199e51 100644
--- a/src/core.rs
+++ b/src/core.rs
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ impl Core {
                 match Meta::from_path(&path, self.flags.dereference.0, self.flags.permission) {
                     Ok(meta) => meta,
                     Err(err) => {
-                        print_error!("{}: {}.", path.display(), err);
+                        print_error!("{}: {}.", crate::display_util::SafePath(&path), err);
                         exit_code.set_if_greater(ExitCode::MajorIssue);
                         continue;
                     }
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ impl Core {
                         exit_code.set_if_greater(path_exit_code);
                     }
                     Err(err) => {
-                        print_error!("lsd: {}: {}\n", path.display(), err);
+                        print_error!("lsd: {}: {}\n", crate::display_util::SafePath(&path), err);
                         exit_code.set_if_greater(ExitCode::MinorIssue);
                         continue;
                     }
diff --git a/src/display.rs b/src/display.rs
index 842ffb248..44db2ec02 100644
--- a/src/display.rs
+++ b/src/display.rs
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ fn should_display_folder_path(depth: usize, metas: &[Meta]) -> bool {
 }
 
 fn display_folder_path(meta: &Meta) -> String {
-    format!("\n{}:\n", meta.path.to_string_lossy())
+    format!("\n{}:\n", crate::display_util::SafePath(&meta.path))
 }
 
 #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
diff --git a/src/display_util.rs b/src/display_util.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..65452a894
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/display_util.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+use std::borrow::Cow;
+use std::fmt;
+use std::path::Path;
+
+#[inline]
+fn is_dangerous(c: char) -> bool {
+    let cp = c as u32;
+    cp < 0x20
+        || cp == 0x7f
+        // C1 controls (raw and UTF-8 form both decode here)
+        || (0x80..=0x9f).contains(&cp)
+        || matches!(c, '\u{202a}'..='\u{202e}' | '\u{2066}'..='\u{2069}')
+}
+
+pub fn sanitize_for_terminal(s: &str) -> Cow<'_, str> {
+    if !s.chars().any(is_dangerous) {
+        return Cow::Borrowed(s);
+    }
+    let mut out = String::with_capacity(s.len());
+    for c in s.chars() {
+        if is_dangerous(c) {
+            out.extend(c.escape_default());
+        } else {
+            out.push(c);
+        }
+    }
+    Cow::Owned(out)
+}
+
+pub struct SafePath<'a>(pub &'a Path);
+
+impl fmt::Display for SafePath<'_> {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        f.write_str(&sanitize_for_terminal(&self.0.to_string_lossy()))
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_passes_through_clean_strings() {
+        assert!(matches!(sanitize_for_terminal("hello.txt"), Cow::Borrowed(_)));
+        assert_eq!(sanitize_for_terminal("hello.txt"), "hello.txt");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_preserves_non_ascii() {
+        let s = "café_文件.txt";
+        assert!(matches!(sanitize_for_terminal(s), Cow::Borrowed(_)));
+        assert_eq!(sanitize_for_terminal(s), s);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_escapes_esc() {
+        let s = "a\x1b[31mred\x1b[0m";
+        let out = sanitize_for_terminal(s);
+        assert!(matches!(out, Cow::Owned(_)));
+        assert!(!out.contains('\x1b'));
+        assert!(out.contains("\\u{1b}"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_escapes_newline_and_tab() {
+        let out = sanitize_for_terminal("a\nb\tc");
+        assert_eq!(out, "a\\nb\\tc");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_escapes_bell() {
+        let out = sanitize_for_terminal("a\x07b");
+        assert!(!out.contains('\x07'));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_escapes_del() {
+        let out = sanitize_for_terminal("a\x7fb");
+        assert!(!out.contains('\x7f'));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_escapes_bidi_override() {
+        let out = sanitize_for_terminal("innocent\u{202e}gpj.exe");
+        assert!(matches!(out, Cow::Owned(_)));
+        assert!(!out.contains('\u{202e}'));
+        assert!(out.contains("\\u{202e}"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_escapes_bidi_isolate() {
+        let out = sanitize_for_terminal("a\u{2066}b");
+        assert!(!out.contains('\u{2066}'));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn safe_path_display_sanitizes() {
+        let p = PathBuf::from("dir/evil\x1b[2Jcleared/file");
+        let rendered = format!("{}", SafePath(&p));
+        assert!(!rendered.contains('\x1b'));
+        assert!(rendered.contains("\\u{1b}"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn safe_path_clean_is_unchanged() {
+        let p = PathBuf::from("/home/user/doc.txt");
+        assert_eq!(format!("{}", SafePath(&p)), "/home/user/doc.txt");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn sanitize_escapes_c1_controls() {
+        let out = sanitize_for_terminal("a\u{9d}52;c;evil\u{9c}b");
+        assert!(!out.contains('\u{9d}'));
+        assert!(!out.contains('\u{9c}'));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/git.rs b/src/git.rs
index aac48ca69..d883a2d62 100644
--- a/src/git.rs
+++ b/src/git.rs
@@ -60,8 +60,10 @@ impl GitCache {
             match repo.statuses(None) {
                 Ok(status_list) => {
                     for status_entry in status_list.iter() {
-                        // git2-rs provides / separated path even on Windows. We have to rebuild it
-                        let str_path = status_entry.path().unwrap();
+                        // git2 returns None for non-utf8 paths, skip them
+                        let Some(str_path) = status_entry.path() else {
+                            continue;
+                        };
                         let path: PathBuf =
                             str_path.split('/').collect::<Vec<_>>().iter().collect();
                         let path = workdir.join(path);
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index e6b7e914e..d25a3a9cb 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ mod color;
 mod config_file;
 mod core;
 mod display;
+mod display_util;
 mod flags;
 mod git;
 mod git_theme;
diff --git a/src/meta/access_control.rs b/src/meta/access_control.rs
index ddb4d5caa..d54dc8c7d 100644
--- a/src/meta/access_control.rs
+++ b/src/meta/access_control.rs
@@ -61,7 +61,10 @@ impl AccessControl {
         if context.is_empty() {
             context += "?";
         }
-        colors.colorize(context, &Elem::Context)
+        colors.colorize(
+            crate::display_util::sanitize_for_terminal(&context).into_owned(),
+            &Elem::Context,
+        )
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/meta/mod.rs b/src/meta/mod.rs
index 81b9dbcc5..aa44e85eb 100644
--- a/src/meta/mod.rs
+++ b/src/meta/mod.rs
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ impl Meta {
         let entries = match self.path.read_dir() {
             Ok(entries) => entries,
             Err(err) => {
-                print_error!("{}: {}.", self.path.display(), err);
+                print_error!("{}: {}.", crate::display_util::SafePath(&self.path), err);
                 return Ok((None, ExitCode::MinorIssue));
             }
         };
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ impl Meta {
             {
                 Ok(res) => res,
                 Err(err) => {
-                    print_error!("{}: {}.", path.display(), err);
+                    print_error!("{}: {}.", crate::display_util::SafePath(&path), err);
                     exit_code.set_if_greater(ExitCode::MinorIssue);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ impl Meta {
                         exit_code.set_if_greater(rec_exit_code);
                     }
                     Err(err) => {
-                        print_error!("{}: {}.", path.display(), err);
+                        print_error!("{}: {}.", crate::display_util::SafePath(&path), err);
                         exit_code.set_if_greater(ExitCode::MinorIssue);
                         continue;
                     }
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ impl Meta {
         let metadata = match metadata {
             Ok(meta) => meta,
             Err(err) => {
-                print_error!("{}: {}.", path.display(), err);
+                print_error!("{}: {}.", crate::display_util::SafePath(path), err);
                 return 0;
             }
         };
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ impl Meta {
             let entries = match path.read_dir() {
                 Ok(entries) => entries,
                 Err(err) => {
-                    print_error!("{}: {}.", path.display(), err);
+                    print_error!("{}: {}.", crate::display_util::SafePath(path), err);
                     return size;
                 }
             };
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ impl Meta {
                 let path = match entry {
                     Ok(entry) => entry.path(),
                     Err(err) => {
-                        print_error!("{}: {}.", path.display(), err);
+                        print_error!("{}: {}.", crate::display_util::SafePath(path), err);
                         continue;
                     }
                 };
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ impl Meta {
                     // path.symlink_metadata would have errored out
                     if dereference {
                         broken_link = true;
-                        eprintln!("lsd: {}: {}", path.to_str().unwrap_or(""), e);
+                        eprintln!("lsd: {}: {}", crate::display_util::SafePath(path), e);
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ impl Meta {
                 Err(e) => {
                     eprintln!(
                         "lsd: {}: {}(Hint: Consider using `--permission disable`.)",
-                        path.to_str().unwrap_or(""),
+                        crate::display_util::SafePath(path),
                         e
                     );
                     (None, None)
diff --git a/src/meta/name.rs b/src/meta/name.rs
index 788c8907e..36a65538e 100644
--- a/src/meta/name.rs
+++ b/src/meta/name.rs
@@ -90,25 +90,7 @@ impl Name {
                 name = format!("\'{}\'", &name);
             }
         }
-        let string = name;
-        if string
-            .chars()
-            .all(|c| c >= 0x20 as char && c != 0x7f as char)
-        {
-            string
-        } else {
-            let mut chars = String::new();
-            for c in string.chars() {
-                // The `escape_default` method on `char` is *almost* what we want here, but
-                // it still escapes non-ASCII UTF-8 characters, which are still printable.
-                if c >= 0x20 as char && c != 0x7f as char {
-                    chars.push(c);
-                } else {
-                    chars += &c.escape_default().collect::<String>();
-                }
-            }
-            chars
-        }
+        crate::display_util::sanitize_for_terminal(&name).into_owned()
     }
 
     fn hyperlink(&self, name: String, hyperlink: HyperlinkOption) -> String {
diff --git a/src/meta/symlink.rs b/src/meta/symlink.rs
index 786b49202..ffab0e582 100644
--- a/src/meta/symlink.rs
+++ b/src/meta/symlink.rs
@@ -15,22 +15,12 @@ impl From<&Path> for SymLink {
             if target.is_absolute() || path.parent().is_none() {
                 return Self {
                     valid: target.exists(),
-                    target: Some(
-                        target
-                            .to_str()
-                            .expect("failed to convert symlink to str")
-                            .to_string(),
-                    ),
+                    target: Some(target.to_string_lossy().into_owned()),
                 };
             }
 
             return Self {
-                target: Some(
-                    target
-                        .to_str()
-                        .expect("failed to convert symlink to str")
-                        .to_string(),
-                ),
+                target: Some(target.to_string_lossy().into_owned()),
                 valid: path.parent().unwrap().join(target).exists(),
             };
         }
@@ -57,7 +47,10 @@ impl SymLink {
 
             let strings: &[ColoredString] = &[
                 ColoredString::new(Colors::default_style(), format!(" {} ", flag.symlink_arrow)), // ⇒ \u{21d2}
-                colors.colorize(target_string, elem),
+                colors.colorize(
+                    crate::display_util::sanitize_for_terminal(&target_string).into_owned(),
+                    elem,
+                ),
             ];
 
             let res = strings