diff --git a/src/awkward/_regularize.py b/src/awkward/_regularize.py
index 0b7f09f2dc..a1a472859a 100644
--- a/src/awkward/_regularize.py
+++ b/src/awkward/_regularize.py
@@ -50,30 +50,6 @@ def is_non_string_like_sequence(obj) -> bool:
     return not isinstance(obj, (str, bytes)) and isinstance(obj, Sequence)
 
 
-def regularize_path(path):
-    """
-    Converts pathlib Paths into plain string paths (for all versions of Python).
-    """
-    is_path = False
-
-    if isinstance(path, getattr(os, "PathLike", ())):
-        is_path = True
-        path = os.fspath(path)
-
-    elif hasattr(path, "__fspath__"):
-        is_path = True
-        path = path.__fspath__()
-
-    elif path.__class__.__module__ == "pathlib":
-        import pathlib
-
-        if isinstance(path, pathlib.Path):
-            is_path = True
-            path = str(path)
-
-    return is_path, path
-
-
 def regularize_axis(axis: SupportsInt | None) -> AxisMaybeNone:
     if axis is None:
         return None
diff --git a/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_avro_file.py b/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_avro_file.py
index 7c07cde565..a15b1f54d2 100644
--- a/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_avro_file.py
+++ b/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_avro_file.py
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 # BSD 3-Clause License; see https://github.com/scikit-hep/awkward-1.0/blob/main/LICENSE
 __all__ = ("from_avro_file",)
 
-# from awkward._typing import Type
-import pathlib
+from os import PathLike, fsdecode
 
 import awkward as ak
 from awkward._nplikes.numpylike import NumpyMetadata
@@ -15,7 +14,7 @@ def from_avro_file(
 ):
     """
     Args:
-        file (string or file-like object): Avro file to be read as Awkward Array.
+        file (path-like or file-like object): Avro file to be read as Awkward Array.
         limit_entries (int): The number of rows of the Avro file to be read into the Awkward Array.
         debug_forth (bool): If True, prints the generated Forth code for debugging.
         highlevel (bool): If True, return an #ak.Array; otherwise, return
@@ -40,8 +39,8 @@ def from_avro_file(
             "debug_forth": debug_forth,
         },
     ):
-        if isinstance(file, pathlib.Path):
-            file = str(file)
+        if isinstance(file, (str, bytes, PathLike)):
+            file = fsdecode(file)
 
         if isinstance(file, str):
             with open(file, "rb") as opened_file:
diff --git a/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_json.py b/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_json.py
index 1b54a83c94..755146a453 100644
--- a/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_json.py
+++ b/src/awkward/operations/ak_from_json.py
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ def __exit__(self, exception_type, exception_value, exception_traceback):
 
 
 def _get_reader(source):
-    if not isinstance(source, pathlib.Path) and isinstance(source, str):
+    if isinstance(source, str):
         source = source.encode("utf8", errors="surrogateescape")
 
     if isinstance(source, bytes):
diff --git a/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_json.py b/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_json.py
index 300df2ce61..e069056922 100644
--- a/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_json.py
+++ b/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_json.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # BSD 3-Clause License; see https://github.com/scikit-hep/awkward-1.0/blob/main/LICENSE
 __all__ = ("to_json",)
 import json
-import pathlib
 from numbers import Number
+from os import PathLike, fsdecode
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 from awkward_cpp.lib import _ext
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def to_json(
     """
     Args:
         array: Array-like data (anything #ak.to_layout recognizes).
-        file (None, str/pathlib.Path, or file-like object): If None, this function returns
+        file (None, path-like, or file-like object): If None, this function returns
             JSON-encoded bytes. Otherwise, this function has no return value.
             If a string/pathlib.Path, this function opens a file with that name, writes JSON
             data, and closes the file. If that path has a URI protocol (like
@@ -205,8 +205,8 @@ def _impl(
     )
 
     if file is not None:
-        if isinstance(file, (str, pathlib.Path)):
-            parsed_url = urlparse(file)
+        if isinstance(file, (str, bytes, PathLike)):
+            parsed_url = urlparse(fsdecode(file))
             if parsed_url.scheme == "" or parsed_url.netloc == "":
 
                 def opener():
diff --git a/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_parquet.py b/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_parquet.py
index b4fe934821..07371ea82b 100644
--- a/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_parquet.py
+++ b/src/awkward/operations/ak_to_parquet.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 __all__ = ("to_parquet",)
 
 from collections.abc import Mapping, Sequence
+from os import fsdecode
 
 import awkward as ak
 from awkward._nplikes.numpylike import NumpyMetadata
@@ -39,8 +40,8 @@ def to_parquet(
     """
     Args:
         array: Array-like data (anything #ak.to_layout recognizes).
-        destination (str): Name of the output file, file path, or remote URL passed to
-            [fsspec.core.url_to_fs](https://filesystem-spec.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api.html#fsspec.core.url_to_fs)
+        destination (path-like): Name of the output file, file path, or
+            remote URL passed to [fsspec.core.url_to_fs](https://filesystem-spec.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api.html#fsspec.core.url_to_fs)
             for remote writing.
         list_to32 (bool): If True, convert Awkward lists into 32-bit Arrow lists
             if they're small enough, even if it means an extra conversion. Otherwise,
@@ -291,6 +292,13 @@ def parquet_columns(specifier, only=None):
     if parquet_extra_options is None:
         parquet_extra_options = {}
 
+    try:
+        destination = fsdecode(destination)
+    except TypeError:
+        raise TypeError(
+            f"'destination' argument of 'ak.to_parquet' must be a path-like, not {type(destination).__name__} ('array' argument is first; 'destination' second)"
+        ) from None
+
     fs, destination = fsspec.core.url_to_fs(destination, **(storage_options or {}))
     metalist = []
     with pyarrow_parquet.ParquetWriter(