diff --git a/include/nlohmann/detail/output/serializer.hpp b/include/nlohmann/detail/output/serializer.hpp
index cc63ab1d3..e475ef959 100644
--- a/include/nlohmann/detail/output/serializer.hpp
+++ b/include/nlohmann/detail/output/serializer.hpp
@@ -664,7 +664,7 @@ class serializer
      * @param[in] byte byte to represent
      * @return representation ("00".."FF")
      */
-    inline std::string hex_bytes(std::uint8_t byte)
+    static std::string hex_bytes(std::uint8_t byte)
     {
         std::string result = "FF";
         constexpr const char* nibble_to_hex = "0123456789ABCDEF";
diff --git a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
index e573adc13..92308c557 100644
--- a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
+++ b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
@@ -16707,7 +16707,7 @@ class serializer
      * @param[in] byte byte to represent
      * @return representation ("00".."FF")
      */
-    inline std::string hex_bytes(std::uint8_t byte)
+    static std::string hex_bytes(std::uint8_t byte)
     {
         std::string result = "FF";
         constexpr const char* nibble_to_hex = "0123456789ABCDEF";