diff --git a/include/fmt/core.h b/include/fmt/core.h
index 5f44a9748e46..9899f902b879 100644
--- a/include/fmt/core.h
+++ b/include/fmt/core.h
@@ -960,6 +960,14 @@ template <typename T> class buffer {
   }
 };
 
+#if FMT_MSC_VERSION
+#  ifdef FMT_EXPORT
+extern template class buffer<char>;
+#  else
+template class FMT_API buffer<char>;
+#  endif
+#endif
+
 struct buffer_traits {
   explicit buffer_traits(size_t) {}
   auto count() const -> size_t { return 0; }
diff --git a/src/format.cc b/src/format.cc
index 19dff44419e1..1e7bbc98acaa 100644
--- a/src/format.cc
+++ b/src/format.cc
@@ -22,6 +22,13 @@ template FMT_API auto locale_ref::get<std::locale>() const -> std::locale;
 
 // Explicit instantiations for char.
 
+#if FMT_MSC_VERSION
+// fmt::ostream does it implicitly, so we need make it explicitly.
+// Otherwise we get ODR violation when {fmt} is built as a shared library
+// and fmt/os.h is not included by the user.
+template class FMT_API buffer<char>;
+#endif
+
 template FMT_API auto thousands_sep_impl(locale_ref)
     -> thousands_sep_result<char>;
 template FMT_API auto decimal_point_impl(locale_ref) -> char;