diff --git a/doc/index.md b/doc/index.md
index 457857c4..b170f9f2 100644
--- a/doc/index.md
+++ b/doc/index.md
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ hide:
 </p>
 <p>
   The library is highly portable and requires only a minimal <b>subset of
-  C++11</b> features which are available in GCC 4.8, Clang 3.4, MSVC 19.0
+  C++11</b> features which are available in GCC 4.9, Clang 3.4, MSVC 19.0
   (2015) and later. Newer compiler and standard library features are used
   if available, and enable additional functionality.
 </p>
diff --git a/include/fmt/base.h b/include/fmt/base.h
index 017d582b..48e3d340 100644
--- a/include/fmt/base.h
+++ b/include/fmt/base.h
@@ -2765,7 +2765,7 @@ FMT_CONSTEXPR FMT_INLINE auto parse_replacement_field(const Char* begin,
   return begin + 1;
 }
 
-template <bool IS_CONSTEXPR, typename Char, typename Handler>
+template <bool IS_CONSTEXPR = true, typename Char, typename Handler>
 FMT_CONSTEXPR void parse_format_string(basic_string_view<Char> format_str,
                                        Handler&& handler) {
   auto begin = format_str.data();
@@ -2938,21 +2938,6 @@ template <typename Char, typename... Args> class format_string_checker {
 // A base class for compile-time strings.
 struct compile_string {};
 
-template <typename S>
-using is_compile_string = std::is_base_of<compile_string, S>;
-
-// Reports a compile-time error if S is not a valid format string for T.
-template <typename... T, typename S, FMT_ENABLE_IF(is_compile_string<S>::value)>
-void check_format_string(S fmt) {
-  using char_type = typename S::char_type;
-  FMT_CONSTEXPR auto s = basic_string_view<char_type>(fmt);
-  using checker = format_string_checker<char_type, remove_cvref_t<T>...>;
-  FMT_CONSTEXPR bool error = (parse_format_string<true>(s, checker(s)), true);
-  ignore_unused(error);
-}
-template <typename..., typename S, FMT_ENABLE_IF(!is_compile_string<S>::value)>
-FMT_ALWAYS_INLINE void check_format_string(S) {}
-
 // Use vformat_args and avoid type_identity to keep symbols short.
 template <typename Char = char> struct vformat_args {
   using type = basic_format_args<buffered_context<Char>>;
@@ -3027,36 +3012,49 @@ template <typename Char, typename... Args> class basic_format_string {
  private:
   basic_string_view<Char> str_;
 
- public:
-  template <
-      typename S,
-      FMT_ENABLE_IF(
-          std::is_convertible<const S&, basic_string_view<Char>>::value ||
-          (detail::is_compile_string<S>::value &&
-           std::is_constructible<basic_string_view<Char>, const S&>::value))>
-  FMT_CONSTEVAL FMT_ALWAYS_INLINE basic_format_string(const S& s) : str_(s) {
+  using checker = detail::format_string_checker<Char, remove_cvref_t<Args>...>;
+
+  template <typename S>
+  FMT_CONSTEXPR FMT_ALWAYS_INLINE void check(const S& s) {
     static_assert(
         detail::count<
             (std::is_base_of<detail::view, remove_reference_t<Args>>::value &&
-             std::is_reference<Args>::value)...>() == 0,
+            std::is_reference<Args>::value)...>() == 0,
         "passing views as lvalues is disallowed");
+    detail::ignore_unused(s);
 #if FMT_USE_CONSTEVAL
     if constexpr (detail::count_named_args<Args...>() ==
                   detail::count_statically_named_args<Args...>()) {
-      using checker =
-          detail::format_string_checker<Char, remove_cvref_t<Args>...>;
-      detail::parse_format_string<true>(str_, checker(s));
+      detail::parse_format_string(str_, checker(str_));
     }
-#else
-#  ifdef FMT_ENFORCE_COMPILE_STRING
+#endif
+  }
+
+ public:
+  // Reports a compile-time error if S is not a valid format string for Args.
+  template <typename S,
+            FMT_ENABLE_IF(
+                std::is_convertible<const S&, basic_string_view<Char>>::value)>
+  FMT_CONSTEVAL FMT_ALWAYS_INLINE basic_format_string(const S& s) : str_(s) {
+    check(s);
+#ifdef FMT_ENFORCE_COMPILE_STRING
     static_assert(
-        detail::is_compile_string<S>::value,
+        FMT_USE_CONSTEVAL && sizeof(S) != 0,
         "FMT_ENFORCE_COMPILE_STRING requires all format strings to use "
         "FMT_STRING.");
-#  endif
-    detail::check_format_string<Args...>(s);
 #endif
   }
+  template <typename S,
+            FMT_ENABLE_IF(std::is_base_of<detail::compile_string, S>::value&&
+                              std::is_constructible<basic_string_view<Char>,
+                                                    const S&>::value)>
+  FMT_CONSTEVAL FMT_ALWAYS_INLINE basic_format_string(const S& s) : str_(s) {
+    check(s);
+    if (FMT_USE_CONSTEVAL) return;
+    FMT_CONSTEXPR auto v = basic_string_view<Char>(S());
+    FMT_CONSTEXPR int ignore = (detail::parse_format_string(v, checker(v)), 0);
+    detail::ignore_unused(ignore);
+  }
   basic_format_string(runtime_format_string<Char> fmt) : str_(fmt.str) {}
 
   FMT_ALWAYS_INLINE operator basic_string_view<Char>() const { return str_; }
diff --git a/include/fmt/compile.h b/include/fmt/compile.h
index 63fa19a9..4a5dc71d 100644
--- a/include/fmt/compile.h
+++ b/include/fmt/compile.h
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ struct is_compiled_string : std::is_base_of<compiled_string, S> {};
  *     std::string s = fmt::format(FMT_COMPILE("{}"), 42);
  */
 #if defined(__cpp_if_constexpr) && defined(__cpp_return_type_deduction)
-#  define FMT_COMPILE(s) FMT_STRING_IMPL(s, fmt::compiled_string, explicit)
+#  define FMT_COMPILE(s) FMT_STRING_IMPL(s, fmt::compiled_string)
 #else
 #  define FMT_COMPILE(s) FMT_STRING(s)
 #endif
diff --git a/include/fmt/format.h b/include/fmt/format.h
index 6278489a..c7d75fd1 100644
--- a/include/fmt/format.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format.h
@@ -1869,7 +1869,7 @@ inline auto find_escape(const char* begin, const char* end)
   return result;
 }
 
-#define FMT_STRING_IMPL(s, base, explicit)                                    \
+#define FMT_STRING_IMPL(s, base)                                              \
   [] {                                                                        \
     /* Use the hidden visibility as a workaround for a GCC bug (#1973). */    \
     /* Use a macro-like name to avoid shadowing warnings. */                  \
@@ -1880,6 +1880,8 @@ inline auto find_escape(const char* begin, const char* end)
         return fmt::detail_exported::compile_string_to_view<char_type>(s);    \
       }                                                                       \
     };                                                                        \
+    typename FMT_COMPILE_STRING::char_type FMT_CHAR = {};                     \
+    (void)FMT_CHAR;                                                           \
     return FMT_COMPILE_STRING();                                              \
   }()
 
@@ -1891,7 +1893,7 @@ inline auto find_escape(const char* begin, const char* end)
  *     // A compile-time error because 'd' is an invalid specifier for strings.
  *     std::string s = fmt::format(FMT_STRING("{:d}"), "foo");
  */
-#define FMT_STRING(s) FMT_STRING_IMPL(s, fmt::detail::compile_string, )
+#define FMT_STRING(s) FMT_STRING_IMPL(s, fmt::detail::compile_string)
 
 template <size_t width, typename Char, typename OutputIt>
 auto write_codepoint(OutputIt out, char prefix, uint32_t cp) -> OutputIt {
diff --git a/include/fmt/xchar.h b/include/fmt/xchar.h
index b1f39ed2..35618de9 100644
--- a/include/fmt/xchar.h
+++ b/include/fmt/xchar.h
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ struct format_string_char<
 };
 
 template <typename S>
-struct format_string_char<S, enable_if_t<is_compile_string<S>::value>> {
+struct format_string_char<
+    S, enable_if_t<std::is_base_of<detail::compile_string, S>::value>> {
   using type = typename S::char_type;
 };
 
diff --git a/test/format-test.cc b/test/format-test.cc
index e6be9935..75baa290 100644
--- a/test/format-test.cc
+++ b/test/format-test.cc
@@ -2203,7 +2203,7 @@ TEST(format_test, vformat_to) {
   fmt::vformat_to(std::back_inserter(s), "{}", args);
   EXPECT_EQ(s, "42");
   s.clear();
-  fmt::vformat_to(std::back_inserter(s), FMT_STRING("{}"), args);
+  fmt::vformat_to(std::back_inserter(s), "{}", args);
   EXPECT_EQ(s, "42");
 }