diff --git a/tools/lammps-gui/imageviewer.cpp b/tools/lammps-gui/imageviewer.cpp
index 0b3c58abd3..94405e04ff 100644
--- a/tools/lammps-gui/imageviewer.cpp
+++ b/tools/lammps-gui/imageviewer.cpp
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ void ImageViewer::do_recenter()
                                "variable LAMMPSGUI_CX equal (xcm(%1,x)-xlo)/lx\n"
                                "variable LAMMPSGUI_CY equal (xcm(%1,y)-ylo)/ly\n"
                                "variable LAMMPSGUI_CZ equal (xcm(%1,z)-zlo)/lz\n").arg(group);
-    lammps->commands_string(commands.toLocal8Bit());
+    lammps->commands_string(commands);
     xcenter = lammps->extract_variable("LAMMPSGUI_CX");
     ycenter = lammps->extract_variable("LAMMPSGUI_CZ");
     zcenter = lammps->extract_variable("LAMMPSGUI_CZ");
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ void ImageViewer::createImage()
     settings.endGroup();
 
     last_dump_cmd = dumpcmd;
-    lammps->command(dumpcmd.toLocal8Bit());
+    lammps->command(dumpcmd);
 
     QImageReader reader(dumpfile.fileName());
     reader.setAutoTransform(true);
diff --git a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp
index 04015ebad4..70f2688f9d 100644
--- a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp
+++ b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp
@@ -493,14 +493,14 @@ void LammpsGui::start_exe()
             vmdfile.write(".psf}\n");
             vmdfile.close();
             args << "-e" << vmdfile.fileName();
-            lammps.command(datacmd.toLocal8Bit());
+            lammps.command(datacmd);
             auto *vmd = new QProcess(this);
             vmd->start(exe, args);
         }
         if (exe == "ovito") {
             QStringList args;
             args << datafile.fileName();
-            lammps.command(datacmd.toLocal8Bit());
+            lammps.command(datacmd);
             auto *ovito = new QProcess(this);
             ovito->start(exe, args);
         }
@@ -800,7 +800,7 @@ void LammpsGui::inspect_file(const QString &fileName)
 
         start_lammps();
         lammps.command("clear");
-        lammps.command(QString("read_restart %1").arg(fileName).toLocal8Bit());
+        lammps.command(QString("read_restart %1").arg(fileName));
         capturer->BeginCapture();
         lammps.command("info system group compute fix");
         capturer->EndCapture();
@@ -816,7 +816,7 @@ void LammpsGui::inspect_file(const QString &fileName)
             infoviewer->show();
             ilist->info = infoviewer;
             dumpinfo.remove();
-            lammps.command(QString("write_data %1 pair ij noinit").arg(infodata).toLocal8Bit());
+            lammps.command(QString("write_data %1 pair ij noinit").arg(infodata));
             auto *dataviewer =
                 new FileViewer(infodata, QString("LAMMPS-GUI: data file for %1").arg(shortName));
             dataviewer->show();
diff --git a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h
index 9157bf77b5..c32b607c2b 100644
--- a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h
+++ b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
 #ifndef LAMMPSWRAPPER_H
 #define LAMMPSWRAPPER_H
 
+#include <QString>
+#include <string>
+
 class LammpsWrapper {
 public:
     LammpsWrapper();
@@ -23,8 +26,14 @@ public:
     void close();
     void finalize();
 
+    void file(const QString &fname) { file(fname.toStdString()); }
+    void file(const std::string &fname) { file(fname.c_str()); }
     void file(const char *);
+    void command(const QString &cmd) { command(cmd.toStdString()); }
+    void command(const std::string &cmd) { command(cmd.c_str()); }
     void command(const char *);
+    void commands_string(const QString &cmd) { commands_string(cmd.toStdString()); }
+    void commands_string(const std::string &cmd) { commands_string(cmd.c_str()); }
     void commands_string(const char *);
 
     void force_timeout();