diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e8b39077f2..4aa13efff4 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,11 +105,6 @@ if(CCACHE_FOUND)
     set(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER ccache)
 endif()
 
-if(WIN32)
-    add_compile_definitions(UNICODE)
-    add_compile_definitions(_WIN32_WINNT=0x0602)
-endif()
-
 if(APPLE AND CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES STREQUAL "arm64")
     include_directories(/opt/homebrew/include)
     link_directories(/opt/homebrew/lib)
diff --git a/rpcs3/CMakeLists.txt b/rpcs3/CMakeLists.txt
index 0bf6f5ebbb..ebad9bfeb3 100644
--- a/rpcs3/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/rpcs3/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ add_subdirectory(rpcs3qt)
 if(WIN32)
     add_executable(rpcs3 WIN32)
     target_sources(rpcs3 PRIVATE rpcs3.rc)
+    target_compile_definitions(rpcs3 PRIVATE UNICODE _UNICODE)
 elseif(APPLE)
     add_executable(rpcs3 MACOSX_BUNDLE)
     target_sources(rpcs3 PRIVATE rpcs3.icns)
diff --git a/rpcs3/Emu/CMakeLists.txt b/rpcs3/Emu/CMakeLists.txt
index 4c3e348ccc..b1673a8077 100644
--- a/rpcs3/Emu/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/rpcs3/Emu/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ if(WIN32)
         Audio/XAudio2/XAudio2Backend.cpp
         Audio/XAudio2/xaudio2_enumerator.cpp
     )
+    target_compile_definitions(rpcs3_emu PRIVATE UNICODE _UNICODE _WIN32_WINNT=0x0602)
 endif()
 
 target_link_libraries(rpcs3_emu
diff --git a/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/CMakeLists.txt b/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/CMakeLists.txt
index 45abc35bf8..7408976176 100644
--- a/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ add_library(rpcs3_ui STATIC
 
 if(WIN32)
     target_sources(rpcs3_ui PUBLIC "../windows.qrc")
+    target_compile_definitions(rpcs3_ui PRIVATE UNICODE _UNICODE)
 endif()
 
 set_target_properties(rpcs3_ui