See here: https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/d170d28b0dcfbe2cf0b08058d0fe2d0f8b1f0df6/src/google/protobuf/parse_context.h#L42 Nothing in parse_context.h refers to any symbols from utf8_validity.h or utf8_range.h So this include is unnecessary.