diff --git a/format-test.cc b/format-test.cc
index fa5d8ab6..eb0cbbd4 100644
--- a/format-test.cc
+++ b/format-test.cc
@@ -260,6 +260,7 @@ TEST(UtilTest, StrError) {
   message = StrError(-1, buffer, BUFFER_SIZE);
   EXPECT_EQ(0, errno);
   EXPECT_GE(BUFFER_SIZE - 1, std::strlen(message));
+  EXPECT_STREQ(strerror(-1), message);
   message = StrError(-1, buffer, std::strlen(message));
   EXPECT_EQ(ERANGE, errno);
 }
diff --git a/format.cc b/format.cc
index d4846f2c..26dab492 100644
--- a/format.cc
+++ b/format.cc
@@ -224,19 +224,13 @@ char *fmt::internal::StrError(
 #endif
 }
 
-void fmt::internal::FormatSystemErrorMessage(
+void fmt::internal::FormatCErrorMessage(
     fmt::Writer &out, int error_code, fmt::StringRef message) {
-#ifndef _WIN32
   Array<char, INLINE_BUFFER_SIZE> buffer;
   buffer.resize(INLINE_BUFFER_SIZE);
   char *system_message = 0;
   for (;;) {
-    errno = 0;
-# ifdef _GNU_SOURCE
-    system_message = strerror_r(error_code, &buffer[0], buffer.size());
-# else
-    strerror_r(error_code, system_message = &buffer[0], buffer.size());
-# endif
+    system_message = StrError(error_code, &buffer[0], buffer.size());
     if (errno == 0)
       break;
     if (errno != ERANGE) {
@@ -247,6 +241,12 @@ void fmt::internal::FormatSystemErrorMessage(
     buffer.resize(buffer.size() * 2);
   }
   out << message << ": " << system_message;
+}
+
+void fmt::internal::FormatSystemErrorMessage(
+    fmt::Writer &out, int error_code, fmt::StringRef message) {
+#ifndef _WIN32
+  FormatCErrorMessage(out, error_code, message);
 #else
   class String {
    private:
@@ -806,6 +806,12 @@ void fmt::SystemErrorSink::operator()(const fmt::Writer &w) const {
   throw SystemError(message.c_str(), error_code_);
 }
 
+void fmt::CErrorSink::operator()(const Writer &w) const {
+  Writer message;
+  internal::FormatCErrorMessage(message, error_code_, w.c_str());
+  throw SystemError(message.c_str(), error_code_);
+}
+
 void fmt::ANSITerminalSink::operator()(
     const fmt::BasicWriter<char> &w) const {
   char escape[] = "\x1b[30m";
diff --git a/format.h b/format.h
index d56a5a27..1d2ae189 100644
--- a/format.h
+++ b/format.h
@@ -499,6 +499,9 @@ class UTF16ToUTF8 {
 // Buffer should be at least of size 1.
 char *StrError(int error_code, char *buffer, std::size_t buffer_size);
 
+// Formats a standard C library error message writing the output to out.
+void FormatCErrorMessage(Writer &out, int error_code, StringRef message);
+
 // Formats a system error message writing the output to out.
 void FormatSystemErrorMessage(Writer &out, int error_code, StringRef message);
 
@@ -1520,7 +1523,7 @@ class Formatter : private Sink, public BasicFormatter<Char> {
 
   See also `Format String Syntax`_.
   \endrst
-*/
+ */
 inline Formatter<> Format(StringRef format) {
   Formatter<> f(format);
   return f;
@@ -1532,7 +1535,7 @@ inline Formatter<NullSink, wchar_t> Format(WStringRef format) {
 }
 
 /**
-  A sink that gets the system error message corresponding to the error code
+  A sink that gets the error message corresponding to a system error code
   and throws SystemError.
  */
 class SystemErrorSink {
@@ -1545,13 +1548,45 @@ class SystemErrorSink {
   void operator()(const Writer &w) const;
 };
 
-/** Throws SystemError with a code and a formatted message. */
+/**
+  Formats a message and throws SystemError with the description of the form
+  "<message>: <system-message>", where <message> is the formatted message and
+  <system-message> is the system message corresponding to the error code.
+  error_code is a system error code as given by errno for POSIX and
+  GetLastError for Windows.
+ */
 inline Formatter<SystemErrorSink> ThrowSystemError(
-    int error_code, StringRef format = 0) {
+    int error_code, StringRef format) {
   Formatter<SystemErrorSink> f(format, SystemErrorSink(error_code));
   return f;
 }
 
+/**
+  A sink that gets the error message corresponding to a standard C library
+  error code as given by errno and throws SystemError.
+ */
+class CErrorSink {
+ private:
+  int error_code_;
+
+ public:
+  explicit CErrorSink(int error_code) : error_code_(error_code) {}
+
+  void operator()(const Writer &w) const;
+};
+
+/**
+  Formats a message and throws SystemError with the description of the form
+  "<message>: <system-message>", where <message> is the formatted message and
+  <system-message> is the system message corresponding to the error code.
+  error_code is an error code as given by errno after calling a C library
+  function.
+ */
+inline Formatter<CErrorSink> ThrowCError(int error_code, StringRef format) {
+  Formatter<CErrorSink> f(format, CErrorSink(error_code));
+  return f;
+}
+
 /** A sink that writes output to a file. */
 class FileSink {
  private:
@@ -1563,7 +1598,7 @@ class FileSink {
   /** Writes the output to a file. */
   void operator()(const BasicWriter<char> &w) const {
     if (std::fwrite(w.data(), w.size(), 1, file_) == 0)
-      ThrowSystemError(errno, "cannot write to file");
+      ThrowCError(errno, "cannot write to file");
   }
 };