diff --git a/include/fmt/format-inl.h b/include/fmt/format-inl.h
index b7f89e8d..4383c924 100644
--- a/include/fmt/format-inl.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format-inl.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #  include <climits>
 #  include <cmath>
 #  include <exception>
+#  include <new>  // std::bad_alloc
 #endif
 
 #if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(FMT_USE_WRITE_CONSOLE)
@@ -78,11 +79,16 @@ template <typename Locale> auto locale_ref::get() const -> Locale {
 
 namespace detail {
 
+FMT_FUNC auto allocate(size_t size) -> void* {
+  void* p = malloc(size);
+  if (!p) FMT_THROW(std::bad_alloc());
+  return p;
+}
+
 FMT_FUNC void format_error_code(detail::buffer<char>& out, int error_code,
                                 string_view message) noexcept {
-  // Report error code making sure that the output fits into
-  // inline_buffer_size to avoid dynamic memory allocation and potential
-  // bad_alloc.
+  // Report error code making sure that the output fits into inline_buffer_size
+  // to avoid dynamic memory allocation and potential bad_alloc.
   out.try_resize(0);
   static const char SEP[] = ": ";
   static const char ERROR_STR[] = "error ";
diff --git a/include/fmt/format.h b/include/fmt/format.h
index 8c143cfe..9b02b595 100644
--- a/include/fmt/format.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format.h
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@
 #  include <cstddef>  // std::byte
 #  include <cstdint>  // uint32_t
 #  include <limits>   // std::numeric_limits
-#  include <new>      // std::bad_alloc
 #  if defined(__GLIBCXX__) && !defined(_GLIBCXX_USE_DUAL_ABI)
 // Workaround for pre gcc 5 libstdc++.
 #    include <memory>  // std::allocator_traits
@@ -736,6 +735,8 @@ using fast_float_t = conditional_t<sizeof(T) == sizeof(double), double, float>;
 template <typename T>
 using is_double_double = bool_constant<std::numeric_limits<T>::digits == 106>;
 
+FMT_API auto allocate(size_t size) -> void*;
+
 // An allocator that uses malloc/free to allow removing dependency on the C++
 // standard library runtime. std::decay is used for back_inserter to be found by
 // ADL when applied to memory_buffer.
@@ -744,9 +745,7 @@ template <typename T> struct allocator : private std::decay<void> {
 
   auto allocate(size_t n) -> T* {
     FMT_ASSERT(n <= max_value<size_t>() / sizeof(T), "");
-    T* p = static_cast<T*>(malloc(n * sizeof(T)));
-    if (!p) FMT_THROW(std::bad_alloc());
-    return p;
+    return static_cast<T*>(detail::allocate(n * sizeof(T)));
   }
 
   void deallocate(T* p, size_t) { free(p); }