diff --git a/src/libs/utils/fileutils.cpp b/src/libs/utils/fileutils.cpp
index 46ce6db8db5..3c59c6657f4 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/fileutils.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/utils/fileutils.cpp
@@ -727,7 +727,7 @@ FilePath FilePath::fromUrl(const QUrl &url)
 }
 
 /// \returns a QString for passing on to QString based APIs
-const QString &FilePath::toString() const
+QString FilePath::toString() const
 {
     return m_data;
 }
diff --git a/src/libs/utils/fileutils.h b/src/libs/utils/fileutils.h
index 47194dda420..5cc1c0e9fc1 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/fileutils.h
+++ b/src/libs/utils/fileutils.h
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public:
     static FilePath fromUtf8(const char *filepath, int filepathSize = -1);
     static FilePath fromVariant(const QVariant &variant);
 
-    const QString &toString() const;
+    QString toString() const;
     QFileInfo toFileInfo() const;
     QVariant toVariant() const;