diff --git a/changelog/64457.changed.md b/changelog/64457.changed.md
index 3360eb9c0cc..8e3364743f9 100644
--- a/changelog/64457.changed.md
+++ b/changelog/64457.changed.md
@@ -3,5 +3,4 @@ Addressed Python 3.11 deprecations:
 * Switch to `FullArgSpec` since Py 3.11 no longer has `ArgSpec`, deprecated since Py 3.0
 * Stopped using the deprecated `cgi` module.
 * Stopped using the deprecated `pipes` module
-* Backport `locale.getdefaultlocale()` into Salt. It's getting removed in Py 3.13
 * Stopped using the deprecated `imp` module
diff --git a/salt/__init__.py b/salt/__init__.py
index 32a73d568e7..4407a7d06f7 100644
--- a/salt/__init__.py
+++ b/salt/__init__.py
@@ -39,44 +39,6 @@ warnings.filterwarnings(
 )
 
 
-def __getdefaultlocale(envvars=("LC_ALL", "LC_CTYPE", "LANG", "LANGUAGE")):
-    """
-    This function was backported from Py3.11 which started triggering a
-    deprecation warning about it's removal in 3.13.
-    """
-    import locale
-
-    try:
-        # check if it's supported by the _locale module
-        import _locale
-
-        code, encoding = _locale._getdefaultlocale()
-    except (ImportError, AttributeError):
-        pass
-    else:
-        # make sure the code/encoding values are valid
-        if sys.platform == "win32" and code and code[:2] == "0x":
-            # map windows language identifier to language name
-            code = locale.windows_locale.get(int(code, 0))
-        # ...add other platform-specific processing here, if
-        # necessary...
-        return code, encoding
-
-    # fall back on POSIX behaviour
-    import os
-
-    lookup = os.environ.get
-    for variable in envvars:
-        localename = lookup(variable, None)
-        if localename:
-            if variable == "LANGUAGE":
-                localename = localename.split(":")[0]
-            break
-    else:
-        localename = "C"
-    return locale._parse_localename(localename)
-
-
 def __define_global_system_encoding_variable__():
     import sys
 
@@ -95,13 +57,16 @@ def __define_global_system_encoding_variable__():
         # If the system is properly configured this should return a valid
         # encoding. MS Windows has problems with this and reports the wrong
         # encoding
+        import locale
 
         try:
-            encoding = __getdefaultlocale()[-1]
-        except ValueError:
-            # A bad locale setting was most likely found:
-            #   https://github.com/saltstack/salt/issues/26063
-            pass
+            encoding = locale.getencoding()
+        except AttributeError:
+            # Python < 3.11
+            encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding(do_setlocale=True)
+
+        # This is now garbage collectable
+        del locale
 
         if not encoding:
             # This is most likely ascii which is not the best but we were
diff --git a/salt/client/ssh/ssh_py_shim.py b/salt/client/ssh/ssh_py_shim.py
index b77749f4953..9b8f9e0f658 100644
--- a/salt/client/ssh/ssh_py_shim.py
+++ b/salt/client/ssh/ssh_py_shim.py
@@ -67,14 +67,14 @@ def get_system_encoding():
         import locale
 
         try:
-            encoding = locale.getdefaultlocale()[-1]
-        except ValueError:
-            # A bad locale setting was most likely found:
-            #   https://github.com/saltstack/salt/issues/26063
-            pass
+            encoding = locale.getencoding()
+        except AttributeError:
+            # Python < 3.11
+            encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding(do_setlocale=True)
 
         # This is now garbage collectable
         del locale
+
         if not encoding:
             # This is most likely ascii which is not the best but we were
             # unable to find a better encoding. If this fails, we fall all
diff --git a/salt/grains/core.py b/salt/grains/core.py
index afaa5389e39..920194be1ee 100644
--- a/salt/grains/core.py
+++ b/salt/grains/core.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ as those returned here
 
 import datetime
 import hashlib
+import locale
 import logging
 import os
 import platform
@@ -2688,10 +2689,8 @@ def locale_info():
         (
             grains["locale_info"]["defaultlanguage"],
             grains["locale_info"]["defaultencoding"],
-        ) = salt.utils.locales.getdefaultlocale()
+        ) = locale.getlocale()
     except Exception:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
-        # locale.getdefaultlocale can ValueError!! Catch anything else it
-        # might do, per #2205
         grains["locale_info"]["defaultlanguage"] = "unknown"
         grains["locale_info"]["defaultencoding"] = "unknown"
     grains["locale_info"]["detectedencoding"] = __salt_system_encoding__
diff --git a/salt/utils/locales.py b/salt/utils/locales.py
index a380ddbe7a2..43c0f1c68d7 100644
--- a/salt/utils/locales.py
+++ b/salt/utils/locales.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 """
 the locale utils used by salt
 """
-import locale
 import sys
 
 from salt.utils.decorators import memoize as real_memoize
@@ -82,39 +81,3 @@ def normalize_locale(loc):
     comps["codeset"] = comps["codeset"].lower().replace("-", "")
     comps["charmap"] = ""
     return join_locale(comps)
-
-
-def getdefaultlocale(envvars=("LC_ALL", "LC_CTYPE", "LANG", "LANGUAGE")):
-    """
-    This function was backported from Py3.11 which started triggering a
-    deprecation warning about it's removal in 3.13.
-    """
-    try:
-        # check if it's supported by the _locale module
-        import _locale
-
-        code, encoding = _locale._getdefaultlocale()
-    except (ImportError, AttributeError):
-        pass
-    else:
-        # make sure the code/encoding values are valid
-        if sys.platform == "win32" and code and code[:2] == "0x":
-            # map windows language identifier to language name
-            code = locale.windows_locale.get(int(code, 0))
-        # ...add other platform-specific processing here, if
-        # necessary...
-        return code, encoding
-
-    # fall back on POSIX behaviour
-    import os
-
-    lookup = os.environ.get
-    for variable in envvars:
-        localename = lookup(variable, None)
-        if localename:
-            if variable == "LANGUAGE":
-                localename = localename.split(":")[0]
-            break
-    else:
-        localename = "C"
-    return locale._parse_localename(localename)