diff --git a/ebook_converter/__init__.py b/ebook_converter/__init__.py
index 831bf3c..07a972e 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/__init__.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/__init__.py
@@ -111,22 +111,3 @@ def prepare_string_for_xml(raw, attribute=False):
     if attribute:
         raw = raw.replace('"', '"').replace("'", ''')
     return raw
-
-
-def force_unicode(obj, enc=constants_old.preferred_encoding):
-    if isinstance(obj, bytes):
-        try:
-            obj = obj.decode(enc)
-        except Exception:
-            try:
-                obj = obj.decode(constants_old.filesystem_encoding
-                                 if enc == constants_old.preferred_encoding
-                                 else constants_old.preferred_encoding)
-            except Exception:
-                try:
-                    obj = obj.decode('utf-8')
-                except Exception:
-                    obj = repr(obj)
-                    if isinstance(obj, bytes):
-                        obj = obj.decode('utf-8')
-    return obj
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py
index 92462c1..f8b9d75 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import math
 import bs4
 from PIL import Image as PILImage
 
-from ebook_converter import entity_to_unicode, force_unicode
+from ebook_converter import entity_to_unicode
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import __appname__, filesystem_encoding, \
         preferred_encoding
 from ebook_converter.devices.interface import DevicePlugin as Device
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ from ebook_converter.ebooks.lrf.pylrs.pylrs import (
     RuledLine, Span, Sub, Sup, TextBlock
 )
 from ebook_converter.ptempfile import PersistentTemporaryFile
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 from ebook_converter.utils import img as uimg
 
 
@@ -1935,8 +1936,8 @@ class HTMLConverter(object):
 
 def process_file(path, options, logger):
     path = os.path.abspath(path)
-    default_title = force_unicode(os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(path))[0],
-                                  filesystem_encoding)
+    default_title = os.path.splitext(os.path .basename(path))[0]
+    default_title = uenc.force_unicode(default_title, filesystem_encoding)
     dirpath = os.path.dirname(path)
 
     tpath = ''
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
index c03c0bb..dd8ff9b 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ import re
 import sys
 import urllib.parse
 
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.utils.config_base import tweaks
 from ebook_converter.polyglot.urllib import unquote
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 
 
 try:
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def remove_bracketed_text(src, brackets=None):
     from collections import Counter
     counts = Counter()
     buf = []
-    src = force_unicode(src)
+    src = uenc.force_unicode(src)
     rmap = {v: k for k, v in brackets.items()}
     for char in src:
         if char in brackets:
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def author_to_author_sort(author, method=None):
     if method == 'copy':
         return author
 
-    prefixes = {force_unicode(y).lower()
+    prefixes = {uenc.force_unicode(y).lower()
                 for y in tweaks['author_name_prefixes']}
     prefixes |= {y+'.' for y in prefixes}
     while True:
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def author_to_author_sort(author, method=None):
         else:
             break
 
-    suffixes = {force_unicode(y).lower()
+    suffixes = {uenc.force_unicode(y).lower()
                 for y in tweaks['author_name_suffixes']}
     suffixes |= {y+'.' for y in suffixes}
 
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/fb2.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/fb2.py
index 8cadba9..8ee0a06 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/fb2.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/fb2.py
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@ from lxml import etree
 from ebook_converter.utils.date import parse_only_date
 from ebook_converter.utils.img import save_cover_data_to
 from ebook_converter.utils.imghdr import identify
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.metadata import MetaInformation, check_isbn
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.chardet import xml_to_unicode
 from ebook_converter.polyglot.binary import as_base64_unicode
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 
 
 NAMESPACES = {'fb2': 'http://www.gribuser.ru/xml/fictionbook/2.0',
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ def get_metadata(stream):
     if book_title:
         book_title = str(book_title)
     else:
-        book_title = force_unicode(os.path.splitext(
+        book_title = uenc.force_unicode(os.path.splitext(
             os.path.basename(getattr(stream, 'name', 'Unknown')))[0])
     mi = MetaInformation(book_title, authors)
 
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/rtf.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/rtf.py
index ee3cea0..63c3432 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/rtf.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/metadata/rtf.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ Edit metadata in RTF files.
 import codecs
 import re
 
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.metadata import MetaInformation
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 
 title_pat = re.compile(br'\{\\info.*?\{\\title(.*?)(?<!\\)\}', re.DOTALL)
 author_pat = re.compile(br'\{\\info.*?\{\\author(.*?)(?<!\\)\}', re.DOTALL)
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def detect_codepage(stream):
 
 def encode(unistr):
     if not isinstance(unistr, str):
-        unistr = force_unicode(unistr)
+        unistr = uenc.force_unicode(unistr)
     return ''.join(c if ord(c) < 128 else
                    '\\u{}?'.format(ord(c)) for c in unistr)
 
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/base.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/base.py
index 121897b..505e131 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/base.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/base.py
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@ from lxml import etree
 from lxml import html
 
 from ebook_converter import constants as const
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import filesystem_encoding, __version__
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.chardet import xml_to_unicode
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.conversion.preprocess import CSSPreProcessor
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb import parse_utils
 from ebook_converter.utils.cleantext import clean_xml_chars
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 from ebook_converter.utils.short_uuid import uuid4
 
 
@@ -1074,7 +1074,7 @@ class Manifest(object):
         def sort_key(self):
             href = self.href
             if isinstance(href, bytes):
-                href = force_unicode(href)
+                href = uenc.force_unicode(href)
 
             if isinstance(self.spine_position, numbers.Number):
                 sp = self.spine_position
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/parse_utils.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/parse_utils.py
index a9e7651..6b84eab 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/parse_utils.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/parse_utils.py
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ from lxml import etree
 from lxml import html
 
 from ebook_converter import constants as const
-from ebook_converter import xml_replace_entities, force_unicode
+from ebook_converter import xml_replace_entities
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import filesystem_encoding
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.chardet import xml_to_unicode, strip_encoding_declarations
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 
 
 RECOVER_PARSER = etree.XMLParser(recover=True, no_network=True,
@@ -159,7 +160,7 @@ def parse_html(data, log=None, decoder=None, preprocessor=None,
     if log is None:
         log = LOG
 
-    filename = force_unicode(filename, enc=filesystem_encoding)
+    filename = uenc.force_unicode(filename, enc=filesystem_encoding)
 
     if not isinstance(data, str):
         if decoder is not None:
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/css.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/css.py
index 3274f79..76bb81f 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/css.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/css.py
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ import functools
 
 from css_parser.css import CSSRule, CSSStyleDeclaration
 
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.css_selectors import parse, SelectorSyntaxError
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb import base
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb.polish import pretty
 from ebook_converter.utils.icu import numeric_sort_key
 from ebook_converter.css_selectors import Select, SelectorError
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 
 
 def filter_used_rules(rules, log, select):
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ def remove_unused_css(container, report=None, remove_unused_classes=False,
                 if unused_rules:
                     num_of_removed_rules += len(unused_rules)
                     [sheet.cssRules.remove(r) for r in unused_rules]
-                    style.text = force_unicode(sheet.cssText, 'utf-8')
+                    style.text = uenc.force_unicode(sheet.cssText, 'utf-8')
                     pretty.pretty_script_or_style(container, style)
                     container.dirty(name)
 
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ def transform_inline_styles(container, name, transform_sheet, transform_style):
             sheet = container.parse_css(style.text)
             if transform_sheet(sheet):
                 changed = True
-                style.text = force_unicode(sheet.cssText, 'utf-8')
+                style.text = uenc.force_unicode(sheet.cssText, 'utf-8')
                 pretty.pretty_script_or_style(container, style)
     for elem in root.xpath('//*[@style]'):
         text = elem.get('style', None)
@@ -253,8 +253,9 @@ def transform_inline_styles(container, name, transform_sheet, transform_style):
                     del elem.attrib['style']
                 else:
                     elem.set('style',
-                             force_unicode(style.getCssText(separator=' '),
-                                           'utf-8'))
+                             uenc.force_unicode(style
+                                                .getCssText(separator=' '),
+                                                'utf-8'))
     return changed
 
 
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/pretty.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/pretty.py
index 85774a8..09273c1 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/pretty.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/polish/pretty.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import textwrap
 
 from ebook_converter import constants as const
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb import parse_utils
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb import base
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb.polish.utils import guess_type
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 from ebook_converter.utils.icu import sort_key
 
 
@@ -157,8 +157,9 @@ def pretty_script_or_style(container, child):
     if child.text:
         indent = indent_for_tag(child)
         if child.tag.endswith('style'):
-            child.text = force_unicode(pretty_css(container, '', child.text),
-                                       'utf-8')
+            child.text = uenc.force_unicode(pretty_css(container, '',
+                                                       child.text),
+                                            'utf-8')
         child.text = textwrap.dedent(child.text)
         child.text = '\n' + '\n'.join([(indent + x) if x else ''
                                        for x in child.text.splitlines()])
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py
index f187d2d..c3389df 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ from css_parser import (profile as cssprofiles, parseString, parseStyle, log as
         css_parser_log, CSSParser, profiles, replaceUrls)
 
 from ebook_converter import constants as const
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.ebooks import unit_convert
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb import base
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb.normalize_css import DEFAULTS, normalizers
 from ebook_converter.css_selectors import Select, SelectorError, INAPPROPRIATE_PSEUDO_CLASSES
 from ebook_converter.tinycss.media3 import CSSMedia3Parser
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 
 
 css_parser_log.setLevel(logging.WARN)
@@ -223,10 +223,10 @@ class Stylizer(object):
                 for x in elem:
                     t = getattr(x, 'text', None)
                     if t:
-                        text += '\n\n' + force_unicode(t, 'utf-8')
+                        text += '\n\n' + uenc.force_unicode(t, 'utf-8')
                     t = getattr(x, 'tail', None)
                     if t:
-                        text += '\n\n' + force_unicode(t, 'utf-8')
+                        text += '\n\n' + uenc.force_unicode(t, 'utf-8')
                 if text:
                     text = oeb.css_preprocessor(text)
                     # We handle @import rules separately
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/transforms/split.py b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/transforms/split.py
index 753b5c0..26a22da 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/transforms/split.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ebooks/oeb/transforms/split.py
@@ -14,12 +14,12 @@ from lxml.etree import XPath as _XPath
 from lxml import etree
 
 from ebook_converter import constants as const
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.epub import rules
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb import base
 from ebook_converter.ebooks.oeb.polish.split import do_split
 from ebook_converter.polyglot.urllib import unquote
 from ebook_converter.css_selectors import Select, SelectorError
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 
 
 __license__ = 'GPL v3'
@@ -86,10 +86,12 @@ class Split(object):
             stylesheets = [x.data for x in self.oeb.manifest if x.media_type in
                            base.OEB_STYLES]
             for rule in rules(stylesheets):
-                before = force_unicode(getattr(rule.style.getPropertyCSSValue(
-                    'page-break-before'), 'cssText', '').strip().lower())
-                after = force_unicode(getattr(rule.style.getPropertyCSSValue(
-                    'page-break-after'), 'cssText', '').strip().lower())
+                before = uenc.force_unicode(
+                    getattr(rule.style.getPropertyCSSValue(
+                        'page-break-before'), 'cssText', '').strip().lower())
+                after = uenc.force_unicode(
+                    getattr(rule.style.getPropertyCSSValue(
+                        'page-break-after'), 'cssText', '').strip().lower())
                 try:
                     if before and before not in {'avoid', 'auto', 'inherit'}:
                         self.page_break_selectors.add((rule.selectorText,
diff --git a/ebook_converter/ptempfile.py b/ebook_converter/ptempfile.py
index 957bf4a..6e3d2ed 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/ptempfile.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/ptempfile.py
@@ -119,21 +119,24 @@ def reset_base_dir():
     base_dir()
 
 
-def force_unicode(x):
+def _force_unicode(x):
     # Cannot use the implementation in calibre.__init__ as it causes a circular
     # dependency
+    # NOTE(gryf): Congratulations! that's a 3rd function in this codebase
+    # called force_unicode! I guess that forcing unicode on text objects is
+    # some kind of hobby.
     if isinstance(x, bytes):
         x = x.decode(filesystem_encoding)
     return x
 
 
 def _make_file(suffix, prefix, base):
-    suffix, prefix = map(force_unicode, (suffix, prefix))  # no2to3
+    suffix, prefix = map(_force_unicode, (suffix, prefix))  # no2to3
     return tempfile.mkstemp(suffix, prefix, dir=base)
 
 
 def _make_dir(suffix, prefix, base):
-    suffix, prefix = map(force_unicode, (suffix, prefix))  # no2to3
+    suffix, prefix = map(_force_unicode, (suffix, prefix))  # no2to3
     return tempfile.mkdtemp(suffix, prefix, base)
 
 
diff --git a/ebook_converter/utils/config_base.py b/ebook_converter/utils/config_base.py
index f4bae27..e8f3ab5 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/utils/config_base.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/utils/config_base.py
@@ -7,10 +7,11 @@ import json
 import numbers
 import os
 import pickle
-import pkg_resources
 import re
 import traceback
 
+import pkg_resources
+
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import config_dir
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import filesystem_encoding
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import preferred_encoding
@@ -75,7 +76,8 @@ def from_json(obj):
     return obj
 
 
-def force_unicode(x):
+def _force_unicode(x):
+    # TODO(gryf): eliminate cases, when this kind of functions are needed.
     try:
         return x.decode(preferred_encoding)
     except UnicodeDecodeError:
@@ -87,7 +89,7 @@ def force_unicode(x):
 
 def force_unicode_recursive(obj):
     if isinstance(obj, bytes):
-        return force_unicode(obj)
+        return _force_unicode(obj)
     if isinstance(obj, (list, tuple)):
         return type(obj)(map(force_unicode_recursive, obj))
     if isinstance(obj, dict):
diff --git a/ebook_converter/utils/encoding.py b/ebook_converter/utils/encoding.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ac1c39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ebook_converter/utils/encoding.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+from ebook_converter import constants_old
+
+
+def force_unicode(obj, enc=constants_old.preferred_encoding):
+    if isinstance(obj, bytes):
+        try:
+            obj = obj.decode(enc)
+        except Exception:
+            try:
+                obj = obj.decode(constants_old.filesystem_encoding
+                                 if enc == constants_old.preferred_encoding
+                                 else constants_old.preferred_encoding)
+            except Exception:
+                try:
+                    obj = obj.decode('utf-8')
+                except Exception:
+                    obj = repr(obj)
+                    if isinstance(obj, bytes):
+                        obj = obj.decode('utf-8')
+    return obj
diff --git a/ebook_converter/utils/filenames.py b/ebook_converter/utils/filenames.py
index 8294d9b..a5edd0e 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/utils/filenames.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/utils/filenames.py
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ import shutil
 from math import ceil
 
 from ebook_converter import constants_old
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import (filesystem_encoding,
                                            preferred_encoding)
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 from ebook_converter.utils.localization import get_udc
 
 
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ def case_preserving_open_file(path, mode='wb', mkdir_mode=0o777):
 
     path = os.path.abspath(path)
 
-    sep = force_unicode(os.sep, 'ascii')
+    sep = uenc.force_unicode(os.sep, 'ascii')
 
     if path.endswith(sep):
         path = path[:-1]
diff --git a/ebook_converter/utils/img.py b/ebook_converter/utils/img.py
index 53a6dd1..09ab9d8 100644
--- a/ebook_converter/utils/img.py
+++ b/ebook_converter/utils/img.py
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ from threading import Thread
 #from PyQt5.QtCore import QBuffer, QByteArray, Qt
 #from PyQt5.QtGui import QColor, QImage, QImageReader, QImageWriter, QPixmap, QTransform
 
-from ebook_converter import force_unicode
 from ebook_converter.constants_old import plugins
 from ebook_converter.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 from ebook_converter.utils.config_base import tweaks
 from ebook_converter.utils.filenames import atomic_rename
+from ebook_converter.utils import encoding as uenc
 from ebook_converter.utils.imghdr import what
 
 # Utilities {{{
@@ -586,7 +586,7 @@ def run_optimizer(file_path, cmd, as_filter=False, input_data=None):
             outw = Thread(name='CopyOutput', target=copy, args=(p.stdout, outf))
             outw.daemon = True
             outw.start()
-        raw = force_unicode(stderr.read())
+        raw = uenc.force_unicode(stderr.read())
         if p.wait() != 0:
             return raw
         else: