diff --git a/include/osgDB/fstream b/include/osgDB/fstream
index b15a2ecfc..cb3c1bdcd 100644
--- a/include/osgDB/fstream
+++ b/include/osgDB/fstream
@@ -19,26 +19,17 @@
 
 #include <fstream>
 
+
 namespace osgDB
 {
 
 /**
-* Replacements for std::fstream, std::ifstream, and std::ofstream to
+* Convenience function for fstream open , std::ifstream, and std::ofstream to
 * automatically handle UTF-8 to UTF-16 filename conversion. Always use one
 * of these classes in any OpenSceneGraph code instead of the STL equivalent.
 */
 
-class OSGDB_EXPORT fstream : public std::fstream
-{
-public:
-    fstream();
-    explicit fstream(const char* filename,
-        std::ios_base::openmode mode = std::ios_base::in | std::ios_base::out);
-    ~fstream();
-
-    void open(const char* filename,
-        std::ios_base::openmode mode = std::ios_base::in | std::ios_base::out);
-};
+void OSGDB_EXPORT open(std::fstream& fs, const char* filename,std::ios_base::openmode mode);
 
 class OSGDB_EXPORT ifstream : public std::ifstream
 {
diff --git a/src/osgDB/fstream.cpp b/src/osgDB/fstream.cpp
index b5d16ff10..19ea29bc0 100644
--- a/src/osgDB/fstream.cpp
+++ b/src/osgDB/fstream.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 */
 
 #include <osgDB/fstream>
+
+
 #include <osgDB/ConvertUTF>
 
 #include <osg/Config>
@@ -25,17 +27,13 @@ namespace osgDB
 #define OSGDB_CONVERT_UTF8_FILENAME(s) s
 #endif
 
-    fstream::fstream(){}
-    fstream::fstream(const char* filename,
-        std::ios_base::openmode mode) : std::fstream(OSGDB_CONVERT_UTF8_FILENAME(filename), mode)
-    {}
-    fstream::~fstream(){}
-    void fstream::open(const char* filename,
-        std::ios_base::openmode mode)
+
+    void open(std::fstream &fs, const char* filename,std::ios_base::openmode mode) 
     {
-        std::fstream::open(OSGDB_CONVERT_UTF8_FILENAME(filename), mode);
+        fs.open(OSGDB_CONVERT_UTF8_FILENAME(filename), mode);  
     }
 
+
     ifstream::ifstream(){}
     ifstream::ifstream(const char* filename,
         std::ios_base::openmode mode) : std::ifstream(OSGDB_CONVERT_UTF8_FILENAME(filename), mode)
diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.cpp
index 4a41b244d..c77396a97 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.cpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.cpp
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ bool OSGA_Archive::open(const std::string& filename, ArchiveStatus status, unsig
             _input.close();
             _status = WRITE;
 
-            _output.open(filename.c_str(), std::ios_base::binary | std::ios_base::in | std::ios_base::out);
+            osgDB::open(_output, filename.c_str(), std::ios_base::binary | std::ios_base::in | std::ios_base::out);
 
             OSG_INFO<<"File position after open = "<<ARCHIVE_POS( _output.tellp() )<<" is_open "<<_output.is_open()<<std::endl;
 
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ bool OSGA_Archive::open(const std::string& filename, ArchiveStatus status, unsig
             OSG_INFO<<"OSGA_Archive::open("<<filename<<"), archive being created."<<std::endl;
 
             _status = WRITE;
-            _output.open(filename.c_str(), std::ios_base::out | std::ios_base::binary | std::ios_base::trunc);
+            osgDB::open(_output, filename.c_str(), std::ios_base::out | std::ios_base::binary | std::ios_base::trunc);
             _output<<"osga";
             _output.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&ENDIAN_TEST_NUMBER),4);
             _output.write(reinterpret_cast<char*>(&s_currentSupportedVersion),sizeof(float));
diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.h b/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.h
index a59e19900..43512723b 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.h
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/osga/OSGA_Archive.h
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class OSGA_Archive : public osgDB::Archive
         float               _version;
         ArchiveStatus       _status;
         osgDB::ifstream     _input;
-        osgDB::fstream      _output;
+        std::fstream        _output;
 
         std::string         _archiveFileName;
         std::string         _masterFileName;