diff --git a/properties.go b/properties.go
index 2e4c8a2..bdfdd4b 100644
--- a/properties.go
+++ b/properties.go
@@ -833,6 +833,8 @@ func escape(r rune, special string) string {
 		return "\\r"
 	case '\t':
 		return "\\t"
+	case '\\':
+		return "\\\\"
 	default:
 		if strings.ContainsRune(special, r) {
 			return "\\" + string(r)
diff --git a/properties_test.go b/properties_test.go
index 9ffa2e0..619da63 100644
--- a/properties_test.go
+++ b/properties_test.go
@@ -152,12 +152,14 @@ var writeTests = []struct {
 	{"key = value \\\n   continued", "key = value continued\n", "ISO-8859-1"},
 	{"key⌘ = value", "key\\u2318 = value\n", "ISO-8859-1"},
 	{"ke\\ \\:y = value", "ke\\ \\:y = value\n", "ISO-8859-1"},
+	{"ke\\\\y = val\\\\ue", "ke\\\\y = val\\\\ue\n", "ISO-8859-1"},
 
 	// UTF-8 tests
 	{"key = value", "key = value\n", "UTF-8"},
 	{"key = value \\\n   continued", "key = value continued\n", "UTF-8"},
 	{"key⌘ = value⌘", "key⌘ = value⌘\n", "UTF-8"},
 	{"ke\\ \\:y = value", "ke\\ \\:y = value\n", "UTF-8"},
+	{"ke\\\\y = val\\\\ue", "ke\\\\y = val\\\\ue\n", "UTF-8"},
 }
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -330,6 +332,7 @@ var stringTests = []struct {
 }{
 	// valid values
 	{"key = abc", "key", "def", "abc"},
+	{"key = ab\\\\c", "key", "def", "ab\\c"},
 
 	// non existent key
 	{"key = abc", "key2", "def", "def"},
@@ -346,6 +349,7 @@ var keysTests = []struct {
 	{"key = abc\nkey2=def", []string{"key", "key2"}},
 	{"key2 = abc\nkey=def", []string{"key2", "key"}},
 	{"key = abc\nkey=def", []string{"key"}},
+	{"key\\\\with\\\\backslashes = abc", []string{"key\\with\\backslashes"}},
 }
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------