diff --git a/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx
index af7bcd621..439f73413 100644
--- a/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator.cxx
@@ -372,7 +372,8 @@ void cmNinjaNormalTargetGenerator::WriteLinkStatement()
       targetOutputImplib.c_str(), cmLocalGenerator::SHELL);
   }
 
-  vars["TARGET_PDB"] = this->GetTargetPDB();
+  vars["TARGET_PDB"] = this->GetLocalGenerator()->ConvertToOutputFormat(
+    this->GetTargetPDB().c_str(), cmLocalGenerator::SHELL);
 
   std::vector<cmCustomCommand> *cmdLists[3] = {
     &this->GetTarget()->GetPreBuildCommands(),
diff --git a/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx
index 8fa367f03..b9f997dc4 100644
--- a/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx
@@ -464,7 +464,8 @@ cmNinjaTargetGenerator
   cmNinjaVars vars;
   vars["FLAGS"] = this->ComputeFlagsForObject(source, language);
   vars["DEFINES"] = this->ComputeDefines(source, language);
-  vars["TARGET_PDB"] = this->GetTargetPDB();
+  vars["TARGET_PDB"] = this->GetLocalGenerator()->ConvertToOutputFormat(
+    this->GetTargetPDB().c_str(), cmLocalGenerator::SHELL);
 
   cmGlobalNinjaGenerator::WriteBuild(this->GetBuildFileStream(),
                                      comment,