diff --git a/cli/app.go b/cli/app.go
index 649fde2b2..11e11abb5 100644
--- a/cli/app.go
+++ b/cli/app.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/alecthomas/kingpin"
 	"github.com/fatih/color"
+	"github.com/mattn/go-colorable"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
 	"github.com/kopia/kopia/internal/apiclient"
@@ -256,8 +257,8 @@ func NewApp() *App {
 
 		// testability hooks
 		osExit:       os.Exit,
-		stdoutWriter: os.Stdout,
-		stderrWriter: os.Stderr,
+		stdoutWriter: colorable.NewColorableStdout(),
+		stderrWriter: colorable.NewColorableStderr(),
 		rootctx:      context.Background(),
 	}
 }
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 530cdb19a..f0b87e59d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/klauspost/cpuid/v2 v2.0.9 // indirect
 	github.com/klauspost/pgzip v1.2.5
 	github.com/kylelemons/godebug v1.1.0
+	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.8
 	github.com/minio/md5-simd v1.1.2 // indirect
 	github.com/minio/minio-go/v7 v7.0.13
 	github.com/minio/sha256-simd v1.0.0 // indirect
@@ -93,7 +94,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/jmespath/go-jmespath v0.4.0 // indirect
 	github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.11 // indirect
 	github.com/kr/fs v0.1.0 // indirect
-	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.8 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-ieproxy v0.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.13 // indirect
 	github.com/matttproud/golang_protobuf_extensions v1.0.1 // indirect