diff --git a/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront.go b/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront.go
index 04a8e3396..f81566edf 100644
--- a/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront.go
+++ b/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront.go
@@ -42,24 +42,7 @@ type Wavefront struct {
 	Log    telegraf.Logger `toml:"-"`
 }
 
-// catch many of the invalid chars that could appear in a metric or tag name
-var sanitizedChars = strings.NewReplacer(
-	"!", "-", "@", "-", "#", "-", "$", "-", "%", "-", "^", "-", "&", "-",
-	"*", "-", "(", "-", ")", "-", "+", "-", "`", "-", "'", "-", "\"", "-",
-	"[", "-", "]", "-", "{", "-", "}", "-", ":", "-", ";", "-", "<", "-",
-	">", "-", ",", "-", "?", "-", "/", "-", "\\", "-", "|", "-", " ", "-",
-	"=", "-",
-)
-
-// catch many of the invalid chars that could appear in a metric or tag name
-var strictSanitizedChars = strings.NewReplacer(
-	"!", "-", "@", "-", "#", "-", "$", "-", "%", "-", "^", "-", "&", "-",
-	"*", "-", "(", "-", ")", "-", "+", "-", "`", "-", "'", "-", "\"", "-",
-	"[", "-", "]", "-", "{", "-", "}", "-", ":", "-", ";", "-", "<", "-",
-	">", "-", "?", "-", "\\", "-", "|", "-", " ", "-", "=", "-",
-)
-
-// instead of Replacer which may miss some special characters we can use a regex pattern, but this is significantly slower than Replacer
+// instead of Sanitize which may miss some special characters we can use a regex pattern, but this is significantly slower than Sanitize
 var sanitizedRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`[^a-zA-Z\d_.-]`)
 
 var tagValueReplacer = strings.NewReplacer("*", "-")
@@ -166,10 +149,8 @@ func (w *Wavefront) buildMetrics(m telegraf.Metric) []*serializer.MetricPoint {
 
 		if w.UseRegex {
 			name = sanitizedRegex.ReplaceAllLiteralString(name, "-")
-		} else if w.UseStrict {
-			name = strictSanitizedChars.Replace(name)
 		} else {
-			name = sanitizedChars.Replace(name)
+			name = serializer.Sanitize(w.UseStrict, name)
 		}
 
 		if w.ConvertPaths {
@@ -245,10 +226,8 @@ func (w *Wavefront) buildTags(mTags map[string]string) (string, map[string]strin
 		var key string
 		if w.UseRegex {
 			key = sanitizedRegex.ReplaceAllLiteralString(k, "-")
-		} else if w.UseStrict {
-			key = strictSanitizedChars.Replace(k)
 		} else {
-			key = sanitizedChars.Replace(k)
+			key = serializer.Sanitize(w.UseStrict, k)
 		}
 		val := tagValueReplacer.Replace(v)
 		if w.TruncateTags {
diff --git a/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront_test.go b/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront_test.go
index 86b499d4e..60e1ffbdc 100644
--- a/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront_test.go
+++ b/plugins/outputs/wavefront/wavefront_test.go
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ func TestDefaults(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, 10000, defaultWavefront.HTTPMaximumBatchSize)
 }
 
-// Benchmarks to test performance of string replacement via Regex and Replacer
+// Benchmarks to test performance of string replacement via Regex and Sanitize
 var testString = "this_is*my!test/string\\for=replacement"
 
 func BenchmarkReplaceAllString(b *testing.B) {
@@ -397,6 +397,6 @@ func BenchmarkReplaceAllLiteralString(b *testing.B) {
 
 func BenchmarkReplacer(b *testing.B) {
 	for n := 0; n < b.N; n++ {
-		sanitizedChars.Replace(testString)
+		serializer.Sanitize(false, testString)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/plugins/serializers/wavefront/replacers.go b/plugins/serializers/wavefront/replacers.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..46465904d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/serializers/wavefront/replacers.go
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package wavefront
+
+import "strings"
+
+// catch many of the invalid chars that could appear in a metric or tag name
+var sanitizedChars = strings.NewReplacer(
+	"!", "-", "@", "-", "#", "-", "$", "-", "%", "-", "^", "-", "&", "-",
+	"*", "-", "(", "-", ")", "-", "+", "-", "`", "-", "'", "-", "\"", "-",
+	"[", "-", "]", "-", "{", "-", "}", "-", ":", "-", ";", "-", "<", "-",
+	">", "-", ",", "-", "?", "-", "/", "-", "\\", "-", "|", "-", " ", "-",
+	"=", "-",
+)
+
+// catch many of the invalid chars that could appear in a metric or tag name
+var strictSanitizedChars = strings.NewReplacer(
+	"!", "-", "@", "-", "#", "-", "$", "-", "%", "-", "^", "-", "&", "-",
+	"*", "-", "(", "-", ")", "-", "+", "-", "`", "-", "'", "-", "\"", "-",
+	"[", "-", "]", "-", "{", "-", "}", "-", ":", "-", ";", "-", "<", "-",
+	">", "-", "?", "-", "\\", "-", "|", "-", " ", "-", "=", "-",
+)
+
+var tagValueReplacer = strings.NewReplacer("\"", "\\\"", "*", "-")
+
+var pathReplacer = strings.NewReplacer("_", ".")
+
+func Sanitize(strict bool, val string) string {
+	if strict {
+		return strictSanitizedChars.Replace(val)
+	}
+	return sanitizedChars.Replace(val)
+}
diff --git a/plugins/serializers/wavefront/wavefront.go b/plugins/serializers/wavefront/wavefront.go
index 7086ba79b..c99145394 100755
--- a/plugins/serializers/wavefront/wavefront.go
+++ b/plugins/serializers/wavefront/wavefront.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package wavefront
 import (
 	"log"
 	"strconv"
-	"strings"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
@@ -19,27 +18,6 @@ type WavefrontSerializer struct {
 	mu                       sync.Mutex // buffer mutex
 }
 
-// catch many of the invalid chars that could appear in a metric or tag name
-var sanitizedChars = strings.NewReplacer(
-	"!", "-", "@", "-", "#", "-", "$", "-", "%", "-", "^", "-", "&", "-",
-	"*", "-", "(", "-", ")", "-", "+", "-", "`", "-", "'", "-", "\"", "-",
-	"[", "-", "]", "-", "{", "-", "}", "-", ":", "-", ";", "-", "<", "-",
-	">", "-", ",", "-", "?", "-", "/", "-", "\\", "-", "|", "-", " ", "-",
-	"=", "-",
-)
-
-// catch many of the invalid chars that could appear in a metric or tag name
-var strictSanitizedChars = strings.NewReplacer(
-	"!", "-", "@", "-", "#", "-", "$", "-", "%", "-", "^", "-", "&", "-",
-	"*", "-", "(", "-", ")", "-", "+", "-", "`", "-", "'", "-", "\"", "-",
-	"[", "-", "]", "-", "{", "-", "}", "-", ":", "-", ";", "-", "<", "-",
-	">", "-", "?", "-", "\\", "-", "|", "-", " ", "-", "=", "-",
-)
-
-var tagValueReplacer = strings.NewReplacer("\"", "\\\"", "*", "-")
-
-var pathReplacer = strings.NewReplacer("_", ".")
-
 type MetricPoint struct {
 	Metric    string
 	Value     float64
@@ -70,11 +48,7 @@ func (s *WavefrontSerializer) serializeMetric(m telegraf.Metric) {
 			name = s.Prefix + m.Name() + metricSeparator + fieldName
 		}
 
-		if s.UseStrict {
-			name = strictSanitizedChars.Replace(name)
-		} else {
-			name = sanitizedChars.Replace(name)
-		}
+		name = Sanitize(s.UseStrict, name)
 
 		if !s.DisablePrefixConversions {
 			name = pathReplacer.Replace(name)
@@ -182,11 +156,7 @@ func formatMetricPoint(b *buffer, metricPoint *MetricPoint, s *WavefrontSerializ
 
 	for k, v := range metricPoint.Tags {
 		b.WriteString(` "`)
-		if s.UseStrict {
-			b.WriteString(strictSanitizedChars.Replace(k))
-		} else {
-			b.WriteString(sanitizedChars.Replace(k))
-		}
+		b.WriteString(Sanitize(s.UseStrict, k))
 		b.WriteString(`"="`)
 		b.WriteString(tagValueReplacer.Replace(v))
 		b.WriteChar('"')