diff --git a/lib/std/build.zig b/lib/std/build.zig
index 4e082ff9ad..f429efa602 100644
--- a/lib/std/build.zig
+++ b/lib/std/build.zig
@@ -1769,24 +1769,19 @@ pub const LibExeObjStep = struct {
             []const []const u8 => {
                 out.print("pub const {z}: []const []const u8 = &[_][]const u8{{\n", .{name}) catch unreachable;
                 for (value) |slice| {
-                    out.writeAll("    ") catch unreachable;
-                    std.zig.renderStringLiteral(slice, out) catch unreachable;
-                    out.writeAll(",\n") catch unreachable;
+                    out.print("    \"{Z}\",\n", .{slice}) catch unreachable;
                 }
                 out.writeAll("};\n") catch unreachable;
                 return;
             },
             []const u8 => {
-                out.print("pub const {z}: []const u8 = ", .{name}) catch unreachable;
-                std.zig.renderStringLiteral(value, out) catch unreachable;
-                out.writeAll(";\n") catch unreachable;
+                out.print("pub const {z}: []const u8 = \"{Z}\";\n", .{ name, value }) catch unreachable;
                 return;
             },
             ?[]const u8 => {
                 out.print("pub const {z}: ?[]const u8 = ", .{name}) catch unreachable;
                 if (value) |payload| {
-                    std.zig.renderStringLiteral(payload, out) catch unreachable;
-                    out.writeAll(";\n") catch unreachable;
+                    out.print("\"{Z}\";\n", .{payload}) catch unreachable;
                 } else {
                     out.writeAll("null;\n") catch unreachable;
                 }
@@ -2017,9 +2012,7 @@ pub const LibExeObjStep = struct {
             // Render build artifact options at the last minute, now that the path is known.
             for (self.build_options_artifact_args.items) |item| {
                 const out = self.build_options_contents.writer();
-                out.print("pub const {}: []const u8 = ", .{item.name}) catch unreachable;
-                std.zig.renderStringLiteral(item.artifact.getOutputPath(), out) catch unreachable;
-                out.writeAll(";\n") catch unreachable;
+                out.print("pub const {}: []const u8 = \"{Z}\";\n", .{ item.name, item.artifact.getOutputPath() }) catch unreachable;
             }
 
             const build_options_file = try fs.path.join(
diff --git a/lib/std/fmt.zig b/lib/std/fmt.zig
index 5b673eec1b..acb8a3d586 100644
--- a/lib/std/fmt.zig
+++ b/lib/std/fmt.zig
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ pub fn formatIntValue(
         } else {
             @compileError("Cannot escape character with more than 8 bits");
         }
-    }else if (comptime std.mem.eql(u8, fmt, "b")) {
+    } else if (comptime std.mem.eql(u8, fmt, "b")) {
         radix = 2;
         uppercase = false;
     } else if (comptime std.mem.eql(u8, fmt, "x")) {
@@ -695,27 +695,20 @@ pub fn formatZigEscapes(
     options: FormatOptions,
     writer: anytype,
 ) !void {
-    for (bytes) |c| {
-        const s: []const u8 = switch (c) {
-            '\"' => "\\\"",
-            '\'' => "\\'",
-            '\\' => "\\\\",
-            '\n' => "\\n",
-            '\r' => "\\r",
-            '\t' => "\\t",
-            // Handle the remaining escapes Zig doesn't support by turning them
-            // into their respective hex representation
-            else => if (std.ascii.isCntrl(c)) {
-                try writer.writeAll("\\x");
-                try formatInt(c, 16, false, .{ .width = 2, .fill = '0' }, writer);
-                continue;
-            } else {
-                try writer.writeByte(c);
-                continue;
-            },
-        };
-        try writer.writeAll(s);
-    }
+    for (bytes) |byte| switch (byte) {
+        '\n' => try writer.writeAll("\\n"),
+        '\r' => try writer.writeAll("\\r"),
+        '\t' => try writer.writeAll("\\t"),
+        '\\' => try writer.writeAll("\\\\"),
+        '"' => try writer.writeAll("\\\""),
+        '\'' => try writer.writeAll("\\'"),
+        ' ', '!', '#'...'&', '('...'[', ']'...'~' => try writer.writeByte(byte),
+        // Use hex escapes for rest any unprintable characters.
+        else => {
+            try writer.writeAll("\\x");
+            try formatInt(byte, 16, false, .{ .width = 2, .fill = '0' }, writer);
+        },
+    };
 }
 
 /// Print a float in scientific notation to the specified precision. Null uses full precision.
@@ -1406,6 +1399,9 @@ test "escape invalid identifiers" {
     try testFmt("@\"11\\\"23\"", "{z}", .{"11\"23"});
     try testFmt("@\"11\\x0f23\"", "{z}", .{"11\x0F23"});
     try testFmt("\\x0f", "{Z}", .{0x0f});
+    try testFmt(
+        \\" \\ hi \x07 \x11 \" derp \'"
+    , "\"{Z}\"", .{" \\ hi \x07 \x11 \" derp '"});
 }
 
 test "pointer" {
diff --git a/lib/std/zig.zig b/lib/std/zig.zig
index c28b9b3e35..06a74a9786 100644
--- a/lib/std/zig.zig
+++ b/lib/std/zig.zig
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ pub const Tokenizer = tokenizer.Tokenizer;
 pub const parse = @import("zig/parse.zig").parse;
 pub const parseStringLiteral = @import("zig/string_literal.zig").parse;
 pub const render = @import("zig/render.zig").render;
-pub const renderStringLiteral = @import("zig/string_literal.zig").render;
 pub const ast = @import("zig/ast.zig");
 pub const system = @import("zig/system.zig");
 pub const CrossTarget = @import("zig/cross_target.zig").CrossTarget;
diff --git a/lib/std/zig/string_literal.zig b/lib/std/zig/string_literal.zig
index ca3585944e..b92d795eee 100644
--- a/lib/std/zig/string_literal.zig
+++ b/lib/std/zig/string_literal.zig
@@ -127,33 +127,3 @@ test "parse" {
     expect(eql(u8, "foo", try parse(alloc, "\"f\x6f\x6f\"", &bad_index)));
     expect(eql(u8, "f💯", try parse(alloc, "\"f\u{1f4af}\"", &bad_index)));
 }
-
-/// Writes a Zig-syntax escaped string literal to the stream. Includes the double quotes.
-pub fn render(utf8: []const u8, out_stream: anytype) !void {
-    try out_stream.writeByte('"');
-    for (utf8) |byte| switch (byte) {
-        '\n' => try out_stream.writeAll("\\n"),
-        '\r' => try out_stream.writeAll("\\r"),
-        '\t' => try out_stream.writeAll("\\t"),
-        '\\' => try out_stream.writeAll("\\\\"),
-        '"' => try out_stream.writeAll("\\\""),
-        ' ', '!', '#'...'[', ']'...'~' => try out_stream.writeByte(byte),
-        else => try out_stream.print("\\x{x:0>2}", .{byte}),
-    };
-    try out_stream.writeByte('"');
-}
-
-test "render" {
-    const expect = std.testing.expect;
-    const eql = std.mem.eql;
-
-    var fixed_buf_mem: [32]u8 = undefined;
-
-    {
-        var fbs = std.io.fixedBufferStream(&fixed_buf_mem);
-        try render(" \\ hi \x07 \x11 \" derp", fbs.outStream());
-        expect(eql(u8,
-            \\" \\ hi \x07 \x11 \" derp"
-        , fbs.getWritten()));
-    }
-}
diff --git a/src/value.zig b/src/value.zig
index a99ea4c04b..e8fe848d5d 100644
--- a/src/value.zig
+++ b/src/value.zig
@@ -350,7 +350,8 @@ pub const Value = extern union {
                 val = elem_ptr.array_ptr;
             },
             .empty_array => return out_stream.writeAll(".{}"),
-            .enum_literal, .bytes => return std.zig.renderStringLiteral(self.cast(Payload.Bytes).?.data, out_stream),
+            .enum_literal => return out_stream.print(".{z}", .{self.cast(Payload.Bytes).?.data}),
+            .bytes => return out_stream.print("\"{Z}\"", .{self.cast(Payload.Bytes).?.data}),
             .repeated => {
                 try out_stream.writeAll("(repeated) ");
                 val = val.cast(Payload.Repeated).?.val;
diff --git a/src/zir.zig b/src/zir.zig
index 96081afc55..76ba89e9c7 100644
--- a/src/zir.zig
+++ b/src/zir.zig
@@ -1216,17 +1216,17 @@ const Writer = struct {
                 try stream.writeByte('}');
             },
             bool => return stream.writeByte("01"[@boolToInt(param)]),
-            []u8, []const u8 => return std.zig.renderStringLiteral(param, stream),
+            []u8, []const u8 => return stream.print("\"{Z}\"", .{param}),
             BigIntConst, usize => return stream.print("{}", .{param}),
             TypedValue => unreachable, // this is a special case
             *IrModule.Decl => unreachable, // this is a special case
             *Inst.Block => {
                 const name = self.block_table.get(param).?;
-                return std.zig.renderStringLiteral(name, stream);
+                return stream.print("\"{Z}\"", .{name});
             },
             *Inst.Loop => {
                 const name = self.loop_table.get(param).?;
-                return std.zig.renderStringLiteral(name, stream);
+                return stream.print("\"{Z}\"", .{name});
             },
             [][]const u8 => {
                 try stream.writeByte('[');
@@ -1234,7 +1234,7 @@ const Writer = struct {
                     if (i != 0) {
                         try stream.writeAll(", ");
                     }
-                    try std.zig.renderStringLiteral(str, stream);
+                    try stream.print("\"{Z}\"", .{str});
                 }
                 try stream.writeByte(']');
             },