diff --git a/plugins/elements/gstfilesink.c b/plugins/elements/gstfilesink.c
index bcd514f74c..2431c14338 100644
--- a/plugins/elements/gstfilesink.c
+++ b/plugins/elements/gstfilesink.c
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ gst_file_sink_set_location (GstFileSink * sink, const gchar * location)
     /* we store the filename as we received it from the application. On Windows
      * this should be in UTF8 */
     sink->filename = g_strdup (location);
-    sink->uri = gst_uri_construct ("file", sink->filename);
+    sink->uri = g_filename_to_uri (sink->filename, NULL, NULL);
   } else {
     sink->filename = NULL;
     sink->uri = NULL;