diff --git a/include/fmt/format-inl.h b/include/fmt/format-inl.h
index bb8858b4..9a9d9dbd 100644
--- a/include/fmt/format-inl.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format-inl.h
@@ -214,13 +214,10 @@ class locale {
 
 namespace internal {
 template <typename Char>
-FMT_FUNC Char thousands_sep(locale_provider *lp) {
+FMT_FUNC Char thousands_sep_impl(locale_provider *lp) {
   std::locale loc = lp ? lp->locale().get() : std::locale();
   return std::use_facet<std::numpunct<Char>>(loc).thousands_sep();
 }
-template <> FMT_FUNC char8_t thousands_sep<char8_t>(locale_provider *) {
-  return static_cast<char8_t>(',');
-}
 }
 #else
 template <typename Char>
diff --git a/include/fmt/format.h b/include/fmt/format.h
index f05c5106..e95466af 100644
--- a/include/fmt/format.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format.h
@@ -1034,7 +1034,17 @@ class add_thousands_sep {
 };
 
 template <typename Char>
-FMT_API Char thousands_sep(locale_provider *lp);
+FMT_API Char thousands_sep_impl(locale_provider *lp);
+
+template <typename Char>
+inline Char thousands_sep(locale_provider *lp) {
+  return Char(thousands_sep_impl<char>(lp));
+}
+
+template <>
+inline wchar_t thousands_sep(locale_provider *lp) {
+  return thousands_sep_impl<wchar_t>(lp);
+}
 
 // Formats a decimal unsigned integer value writing into buffer.
 // thousands_sep is a functor that is called after writing each char to
@@ -3416,7 +3426,7 @@ struct it_category<T, typename void_<typename T::iterator_category>::type> {
   typedef typename T::iterator_category type;
 };
 
-// Detect if *any* given type models the OutputIterator concept
+// Detect if *any* given type models the OutputIterator concept.
 template <typename It>
 class is_output_iterator {
   // Check for mutability because all iterator categories derived from
@@ -3434,10 +3444,9 @@ class is_output_iterator {
 
   typedef decltype(test<It>(typename it_category<It>::type{})) type;
   typedef typename std::remove_reference<type>::type result;
-public:
+ public:
   static const bool value = !std::is_const<result>::value;
 };
-
 } // internal
 
 template <typename OutputIt, typename Char = char>
diff --git a/src/format.cc b/src/format.cc
index 8f7a5991..e37c61cf 100644
--- a/src/format.cc
+++ b/src/format.cc
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ template struct internal::basic_data<void>;
 
 // Explicit instantiations for char.
 
-template FMT_API char internal::thousands_sep(locale_provider *lp);
+template FMT_API char internal::thousands_sep_impl(locale_provider *lp);
 
 template void internal::basic_buffer<char>::append(const char *, const char *);
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ template FMT_API void internal::sprintf_format(
 
 // Explicit instantiations for wchar_t.
 
-template FMT_API wchar_t internal::thousands_sep(locale_provider *);
+template FMT_API wchar_t internal::thousands_sep_impl(locale_provider *);
 
 template void internal::basic_buffer<wchar_t>::append(
     const wchar_t *, const wchar_t *);