diff --git a/gramps/gui/editors/displaytabs/gallerytab.py b/gramps/gui/editors/displaytabs/gallerytab.py
index bd8a14c25..3a8bdcc24 100644
--- a/gramps/gui/editors/displaytabs/gallerytab.py
+++ b/gramps/gui/editors/displaytabs/gallerytab.py
@@ -520,7 +520,10 @@ class GalleryTab(ButtonTab, DbGUIElement):
                 else:
                     files =  sel_data.get_uris()
                 for file in files:
-                    d = conv_to_unicode((file.replace('\0',' ').strip()), None)
+                    if win():
+                        d = conv_to_unicode((file.replace('\0',' ').strip()), None)
+                    else:
+                        d = file
                     protocol, site, mfile, j, k, l = urlparse(d)
                     if protocol == "file":
                         name = url2pathname(mfile)
diff --git a/gramps/plugins/view/mediaview.py b/gramps/plugins/view/mediaview.py
index 29ddf4458..67e9c48ff 100644
--- a/gramps/plugins/view/mediaview.py
+++ b/gramps/plugins/view/mediaview.py
@@ -184,9 +184,12 @@ class MediaView(ListView):
         #modern file managers provide URI_LIST. For Windows split sel_data.data
         files = sel_data.get_uris()
         for file in files:
-            clean_string = conv_to_unicode(
-                file.replace('\0',' ').replace("\r", " ").strip(),
-                None)
+            if win():
+                clean_string = conv_to_unicode(
+                    file.replace('\0',' ').replace("\r", " ").strip(),
+                    None)
+            else:
+                clean_string = file
             protocol, site, mfile, j, k, l = urlparse(clean_string)
             if protocol == "file":
                 name = url2pathname(mfile)