diff --git a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/soma_vfs.cc b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/soma_vfs.cc
index 4bba891ab9..dd57bf17d1 100644
--- a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/soma_vfs.cc
+++ b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/soma_vfs.cc
@@ -108,10 +108,8 @@ void load_soma_vfs(py::module& m) {
             [](SOMAVFSFilebuf& buf, const std::string& uri) {
                 auto fb = buf.open(uri, std::ios::in);
                 if (fb == nullptr) {
-                    // No std::format in C++17, and fmt::format is overkill here
-                    std::stringstream ss;
-                    ss << "URI {" << uri << "} is not a valid URI";
-                    TPY_ERROR_LOC(ss.str());
+                    TPY_ERROR_LOC(
+                        std::format("URI {} is not a valid URI", uri));
                 }
                 return fb;
             },
@@ -126,4 +124,4 @@ void load_soma_vfs(py::module& m) {
             py::call_guard<py::gil_scoped_release>())
         .def("close", &SOMAVFSFilebuf::close, "should_throw"_a = true);
 }
-}  // namespace libtiledbsomacpp
+}  // namespace libtiledbsomacpp
\ No newline at end of file