diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 59f576ea84..c9cc6994ca 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -26,8 +26,14 @@ jobs:
           components: rustfmt, clippy
       - name: Lint (clippy)
         run: cargo clippy --workspace --all-features --all-targets
+      - name: Lint (clippy in camino-examples)
+        run: |
+          cd camino-examples && cargo clippy --all-features --all-targets
       - name: Lint (rustfmt)
         run: cargo xfmt --check
+      - name: Lint (rustfmt in camino-examples)
+        run: |
+          cd camino-examples && cargo xfmt --check
       - name: Check for differences
         run: git diff --exit-code
 
@@ -51,6 +57,7 @@ jobs:
           - 1.63
           - nightly-2022-12-14
           - 1.68
+          - 1.74
           - stable
         exclude:
           # These versions started failing with "archive member 'lib.rmeta' with length 26456 is not
@@ -89,11 +96,19 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build all targets with all features
         # Some optional features are not compatible with earlier versions
         if: ${{ matrix.rust-version == 'stable' }}
-        run: cargo hack --feature-powerset build --workspace
+        run: cargo hack --feature-powerset build --workspace --all-targets
       - name: Test all targets with all features
         # Some optional features are not compatible with earlier versions
         if: ${{ matrix.rust-version == 'stable' }}
-        run: cargo hack --feature-powerset test --workspace
+        run: cargo hack --feature-powerset test --workspace --all-targets
+      - name: Build camino-examples
+        if: ${{ matrix.rust-version == 'stable' }}
+        run: |
+          cd camino-examples && cargo build
+      - name: Test camino-examples
+        if: ${{ matrix.rust-version == 'stable' }}
+        run: |
+          cd camino-examples && cargo test
 
   miri:
     name: Check unsafe code against miri
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index e2c1403045..c5f261384d 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [workspace]
-members = [".", "camino-examples"]
+members = ["."]
 
 [package]
 name = "camino"
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index 25cb382496..23e300d1c0 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ fn main() {
     println!("cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(path_buf_capacity)");
     println!("cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(shrink_to)");
     println!("cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(try_reserve_2)");
+    println!("cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(os_str_bytes)");
 
     let compiler = match rustc_version() {
         Some(compiler) => compiler,
@@ -49,6 +50,11 @@ fn main() {
     {
         println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=path_buf_deref_mut");
     }
+    // os_str_bytes was added in a 1.74 stable.
+    if (compiler.minor >= 74 && compiler.channel == ReleaseChannel::Stable) || compiler.minor >= 75
+    {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=os_str_bytes");
+    }
 
     // Catch situations where the actual features aren't enabled. Currently, they're only shown with
     // `-vv` output, but maybe that will be noticed.
diff --git a/camino-examples/.gitignore b/camino-examples/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ea8c4bf7f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/camino-examples/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/target
diff --git a/camino-examples/Cargo.toml b/camino-examples/Cargo.toml
index 58b7845c3b..2c9a07ae56 100644
--- a/camino-examples/Cargo.toml
+++ b/camino-examples/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+[workspace]
+# camino-examples pulls in crates that aren't supported by old versions of Rust, so make it its own
+# workspace.
+members = ["."]
+
 [package]
 name = "camino-examples"
 description = "Examples for camino"
@@ -12,5 +17,12 @@ clap = { version = "3.0.7", features = ["derive"] }
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = { version = "1.0.62" }
 
+[dev-dependencies]
+criterion = "0.5.1"
+
 [[bin]]
 name = "serde"
+
+[[bench]]
+name = "bench"
+harness = false
diff --git a/camino-examples/benches/bench.rs b/camino-examples/benches/bench.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1c924f1b86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/camino-examples/benches/bench.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+// Copyright (c) The camino Contributors
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT OR Apache-2.0
+
+// This benchmark is here because criterion has a higher MSRV than camino -- camino-examples is only
+// tested on stable, which is good enough.
+
+use camino::Utf8PathBuf;
+use criterion::*;
+
+fn bench_path(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let mut group = c.benchmark_group("Path");
+    for i in [10, 100, 1000, 10000] {
+        let p = "i".repeat(i);
+        let buf = Utf8PathBuf::from(black_box(p));
+        group.bench_with_input(BenchmarkId::new("Utf8PathBuf::as_str", i), &buf, |b, i| {
+            b.iter(|| {
+                let _ = black_box(&i).as_str();
+            })
+        });
+    }
+}
+
+criterion_group!(benches, bench_path);
+criterion_main!(benches);
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index e9a115f20c..7d510bdf7d 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -701,10 +701,10 @@ impl Utf8Path {
     /// the current directory.
     ///
     /// * On Unix, a path is absolute if it starts with the root, so
-    /// `is_absolute` and [`has_root`] are equivalent.
+    ///   `is_absolute` and [`has_root`] are equivalent.
     ///
     /// * On Windows, a path is absolute if it has a prefix and starts with the
-    /// root: `c:\windows` is absolute, while `c:temp` and `\temp` are not.
+    ///   root: `c:\windows` is absolute, while `c:temp` and `\temp` are not.
     ///
     /// # Examples
     ///
@@ -3067,9 +3067,22 @@ impl_cmp_os_str!(&'a Utf8Path, OsString);
 // invariant: OsStr must be guaranteed to be utf8 data
 #[inline]
 unsafe fn str_assume_utf8(string: &OsStr) -> &str {
-    // Adapted from the source code for Option::unwrap_unchecked.
-    match string.to_str() {
-        Some(val) => val,
-        None => std::hint::unreachable_unchecked(),
+    #[cfg(os_str_bytes)]
+    {
+        // SAFETY: OsStr is guaranteed to be utf8 data from the invariant
+        unsafe {
+            std::str::from_utf8_unchecked(
+                #[allow(clippy::incompatible_msrv)]
+                string.as_encoded_bytes(),
+            )
+        }
+    }
+    #[cfg(not(os_str_bytes))]
+    {
+        // Adapted from the source code for Option::unwrap_unchecked.
+        match string.to_str() {
+            Some(val) => val,
+            None => std::hint::unreachable_unchecked(),
+        }
     }
 }