diff --git a/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.cpp b/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.cpp
index 6456b8cad2..f0e9db513d 100644
--- a/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.cpp
+++ b/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.cpp
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 #include "Common/File/AndroidContentURI.h"
 
-bool AndroidContentURI::Parse(const std::string &path) {
+bool AndroidContentURI::Parse(std::string_view path) {
 	const char *prefix = "content://";
 	if (!startsWith(path, prefix)) {
 		return false;
 	}
 
-	std::string components = path.substr(strlen(prefix));
+	std::string_view components = path.substr(strlen(prefix));
 
 	std::vector<std::string> parts;
 	SplitString(components, '/', parts);
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ AndroidContentURI AndroidContentURI::WithRootFilePath(const std::string &filePat
 	return uri;
 }
 
-AndroidContentURI AndroidContentURI::WithComponent(const std::string &filePath) {
+AndroidContentURI AndroidContentURI::WithComponent(std::string_view filePath) {
 	AndroidContentURI uri = *this;
 	if (uri.file.empty()) {
 		// Not sure what to do.
@@ -68,16 +68,17 @@ AndroidContentURI AndroidContentURI::WithComponent(const std::string &filePath)
 	}
 	if (uri.file.back() == ':') {
 		// Special case handling for Document URIs: Treat the ':' as a directory separator too (but preserved in the filename).
-		uri.file = uri.file + filePath;
+		uri.file.append(filePath);
 	} else {
-		uri.file = uri.file + "/" + filePath;
+		uri.file.push_back('/');
+		uri.file.append(filePath);
 	}
 	return uri;
 }
 
-AndroidContentURI AndroidContentURI::WithExtraExtension(const std::string &extension) {
+AndroidContentURI AndroidContentURI::WithExtraExtension(std::string_view extension) {
 	AndroidContentURI uri = *this;
-	uri.file = uri.file + extension;
+	uri.file.append(extension);
 	return uri;
 }
 
diff --git a/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.h b/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.h
index 23ce2a9e03..7015e0a20a 100644
--- a/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.h
+++ b/Common/File/AndroidContentURI.h
@@ -23,15 +23,15 @@ private:
 	std::string file;
 public:
 	AndroidContentURI() {}
-	explicit AndroidContentURI(const std::string &path) {
+	explicit AndroidContentURI(std::string_view path) {
 		Parse(path);
 	}
 
-	bool Parse(const std::string &path);
+	bool Parse(std::string_view path);
 
 	AndroidContentURI WithRootFilePath(const std::string &filePath);
-	AndroidContentURI WithComponent(const std::string &filePath);
-	AndroidContentURI WithExtraExtension(const std::string &extension);
+	AndroidContentURI WithComponent(std::string_view filePath);
+	AndroidContentURI WithExtraExtension(std::string_view extension);  // The ext string contains the dot.
 	AndroidContentURI WithReplacedExtension(const std::string &oldExtension, const std::string &newExtension) const;
 	AndroidContentURI WithReplacedExtension(const std::string &newExtension) const;
 
diff --git a/Common/File/AndroidStorage.cpp b/Common/File/AndroidStorage.cpp
index c4ddcc73c1..efb8a3360a 100644
--- a/Common/File/AndroidStorage.cpp
+++ b/Common/File/AndroidStorage.cpp
@@ -61,16 +61,16 @@ void Android_RegisterStorageCallbacks(JNIEnv * env, jobject obj) {
 	_dbg_assert_(computeRecursiveDirectorySize);
 }
 
-bool Android_IsContentUri(const std::string &filename) {
+bool Android_IsContentUri(std::string_view filename) {
 	return startsWith(filename, "content://");
 }
 
-int Android_OpenContentUriFd(const std::string &filename, Android_OpenContentUriMode mode) {
+int Android_OpenContentUriFd(std::string_view filename, Android_OpenContentUriMode mode) {
 	if (!g_nativeActivity) {
 		return -1;
 	}
 
-	std::string fname = filename;
+	std::string fname(filename);
 	// PPSSPP adds an ending slash to directories before looking them up.
 	// TODO: Fix that in the caller (or don't call this for directories).
 	if (fname.back() == '/')
diff --git a/Common/File/AndroidStorage.h b/Common/File/AndroidStorage.h
index 1b4585f775..b50625e425 100644
--- a/Common/File/AndroidStorage.h
+++ b/Common/File/AndroidStorage.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <vector>
 #include <string>
+#include <string_view>
 
 #include "Common/File/DirListing.h"
 
@@ -39,8 +40,8 @@ extern std::string g_externalDir;
 
 void Android_StorageSetNativeActivity(jobject nativeActivity);
 
-bool Android_IsContentUri(const std::string &uri);
-int Android_OpenContentUriFd(const std::string &uri, const Android_OpenContentUriMode mode);
+bool Android_IsContentUri(std::string_view uri);
+int Android_OpenContentUriFd(std::string_view uri, const Android_OpenContentUriMode mode);
 StorageError Android_CreateDirectory(const std::string &parentTreeUri, const std::string &dirName);
 StorageError Android_CreateFile(const std::string &parentTreeUri, const std::string &fileName);
 StorageError Android_MoveFile(const std::string &fileUri, const std::string &srcParentUri, const std::string &destParentUri);
@@ -63,8 +64,8 @@ void Android_RegisterStorageCallbacks(JNIEnv * env, jobject obj);
 
 // Stub out the Android Storage wrappers, so that we can avoid ifdefs everywhere.
 
-inline bool Android_IsContentUri(const std::string &uri) { return false; }
-inline int Android_OpenContentUriFd(const std::string &uri, const Android_OpenContentUriMode mode) { return -1; }
+inline bool Android_IsContentUri(std::string_view uri) { return false; }
+inline int Android_OpenContentUriFd(std::string_view uri, const Android_OpenContentUriMode mode) { return -1; }
 inline StorageError Android_CreateDirectory(const std::string &parentTreeUri, const std::string &dirName) { return StorageError::UNKNOWN; }
 inline StorageError Android_CreateFile(const std::string &parentTreeUri, const std::string &fileName) { return StorageError::UNKNOWN; }
 inline StorageError Android_MoveFile(const std::string &fileUri, const std::string &srcParentUri, const std::string &destParentUri) { return StorageError::UNKNOWN; }
diff --git a/Common/File/Path.cpp b/Common/File/Path.cpp
index 6c6587361c..a3d773f740 100644
--- a/Common/File/Path.cpp
+++ b/Common/File/Path.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #endif
 
-Path::Path(const std::string &str) {
+Path::Path(std::string_view str) {
 	Init(str);
 }
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ Path::Path(const std::wstring &str) {
 }
 #endif
 
-void Path::Init(const std::string &str) {
+void Path::Init(std::string_view str) {
 	if (str.empty()) {
 		type_ = PathType::UNDEFINED;
 		path_.clear();
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ void Path::Init(const std::string &str) {
 
 // We always use forward slashes internally, we convert to backslash only when
 // converted to a wstring.
-Path Path::operator /(const std::string &subdir) const {
+Path Path::operator /(std::string_view subdir) const {
 	if (type_ == PathType::CONTENT_URI) {
 		AndroidContentURI uri(path_);
 		return Path(uri.WithComponent(subdir).ToString());
@@ -104,18 +104,18 @@ Path Path::operator /(const std::string &subdir) const {
 	return Path(fullPath);
 }
 
-void Path::operator /=(const std::string &subdir) {
+void Path::operator /=(std::string_view subdir) {
 	*this = *this / subdir;
 }
 
-Path Path::WithExtraExtension(const std::string &ext) const {
+Path Path::WithExtraExtension(std::string_view ext) const {
 	if (type_ == PathType::CONTENT_URI) {
 		AndroidContentURI uri(path_);
 		return Path(uri.WithExtraExtension(ext).ToString());
 	}
 
 	_dbg_assert_(!ext.empty() && ext[0] == '.');
-	return Path(path_ + ext);
+	return Path(path_ + std::string(ext));
 }
 
 Path Path::WithReplacedExtension(const std::string &oldExtension, const std::string &newExtension) const {
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ std::string Path::GetFilename() const {
 	return path_;
 }
 
-std::string GetExtFromString(const std::string &str) {
+std::string GetExtFromString(std::string_view str) {
 	size_t pos = str.rfind(".");
 	if (pos == std::string::npos) {
 		return "";
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ std::string GetExtFromString(const std::string &str) {
 		// Don't want to detect "df/file" from "/as.df/file"
 		return "";
 	}
-	std::string ext = str.substr(pos);
+	std::string ext(str.substr(pos));
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < ext.size(); i++) {
 		ext[i] = tolower(ext[i]);
 	}
diff --git a/Common/File/Path.h b/Common/File/Path.h
index 2fd955c6f1..0be3e0aabd 100644
--- a/Common/File/Path.h
+++ b/Common/File/Path.h
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include "ppsspp_config.h"
 
 #include <string>
+#include <string_view>
 
 #if defined(__APPLE__)
 
@@ -36,11 +37,11 @@ enum class PathType {
 
 class Path {
 private:
-	void Init(const std::string &str);
+	void Init(std::string_view str);
 
 public:
 	Path() : type_(PathType::UNDEFINED) {}
-	explicit Path(const std::string &str);
+	explicit Path(std::string_view str);
 
 #if PPSSPP_PLATFORM(WINDOWS)
 	explicit Path(const std::wstring &str);
@@ -71,13 +72,13 @@ public:
 	bool IsAbsolute() const;
 
 	// Returns a path extended with a subdirectory.
-	Path operator /(const std::string &subdir) const;
+	Path operator /(std::string_view subdir) const;
 
 	// Navigates down into a subdir.
-	void operator /=(const std::string &subdir);
+	void operator /=(std::string_view subdir);
 
 	// File extension manipulation.
-	Path WithExtraExtension(const std::string &ext) const;
+	Path WithExtraExtension(std::string_view ext) const;
 	Path WithReplacedExtension(const std::string &oldExtension, const std::string &newExtension) const;
 	Path WithReplacedExtension(const std::string &newExtension) const;
 
@@ -139,7 +140,7 @@ private:
 };
 
 // Utility function for parsing out file extensions.
-std::string GetExtFromString(const std::string &str);
+std::string GetExtFromString(std::string_view str);
 
 // Utility function for fixing the case of paths. Only present on Unix-like systems.
 
diff --git a/Common/StringUtils.cpp b/Common/StringUtils.cpp
index 4b05f009a0..bfa0de2c26 100644
--- a/Common/StringUtils.cpp
+++ b/Common/StringUtils.cpp
@@ -284,8 +284,7 @@ std::string_view StripQuotes(std::string_view s) {
 		return s;
 }
 
-void SplitString(const std::string& str, const char delim, std::vector<std::string>& output)
-{
+void SplitString(std::string_view str, const char delim, std::vector<std::string> &output) {
 	size_t next = 0;
 	for (size_t pos = 0, len = str.length(); pos < len; ++pos) {
 		if (str[pos] == delim) {
@@ -296,7 +295,7 @@ void SplitString(const std::string& str, const char delim, std::vector<std::stri
 	}
 
 	if (next == 0) {
-		output.push_back(str);
+		output.push_back(std::string(str));
 	} else if (next < str.length()) {
 		output.emplace_back(str.substr(next));
 	}
diff --git a/Common/StringUtils.h b/Common/StringUtils.h
index f595654651..f1000208df 100644
--- a/Common/StringUtils.h
+++ b/Common/StringUtils.h
@@ -81,7 +81,8 @@ std::string StripQuotes(const std::string &s);
 std::string_view StripSpaces(std::string_view s);
 std::string_view StripQuotes(std::string_view s);
 
-void SplitString(const std::string& str, const char delim, std::vector<std::string>& output);
+// TODO: Make this a lot more efficient by outputting string_views.
+void SplitString(std::string_view str, const char delim, std::vector<std::string>& output);
 
 void GetQuotedStrings(const std::string& str, std::vector<std::string>& output);