diff --git a/spa/include/spa/utils/json.h b/spa/include/spa/utils/json.h
index 5a5601e05..6976235bd 100644
--- a/spa/include/spa/utils/json.h
+++ b/spa/include/spa/utils/json.h
@@ -324,7 +324,18 @@ static inline int spa_json_parse_string(const char *val, int len, char *result)
 					*result++ = '\t';
 				else if (*p == 'f')
 					*result++ = '\f';
-				else
+				else if (*p == 'u') {
+					char *end;
+					uint16_t v = strtol(p+1, &end, 16);
+					if (p+1 == end) {
+						*result++ = *p;
+					} else {
+						p = end-1;
+						if (v > 0xff)
+							*result++ = (v >> 8) & 0xff;
+						*result++ = v & 0xff;
+					}
+				} else
 					*result++ = *p;
 			} else if (*p == '\"') {
 				break;
@@ -348,6 +359,7 @@ static inline int spa_json_get_string(struct spa_json *iter, char *res, int maxl
 static inline int spa_json_encode_string(char *str, int size, const char *val)
 {
 	int len = 0;
+	static const char hex[] = { "0123456789abcdef" };
 #define __PUT(c) { if (len < size) *str++ = c; len++; }
 	__PUT('"');
 	while (*val) {
@@ -371,7 +383,13 @@ static inline int spa_json_encode_string(char *str, int size, const char *val)
 			__PUT('\\'); __PUT('"');
 			break;
 		default:
-			__PUT(*val);
+			if (*val > 0 && *val < 0x20) {
+				__PUT('\\'); __PUT('u');
+				__PUT('0'); __PUT('0');
+				__PUT(hex[((*val)>>4)&0xf]); __PUT(hex[(*val)&0xf]);
+			} else {
+				__PUT(*val);
+			}
 			break;
 		}
 		val++;
diff --git a/spa/tests/test-json.c b/spa/tests/test-json.c
index c2bb5f815..47f343cdf 100644
--- a/spa/tests/test-json.c
+++ b/spa/tests/test-json.c
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ static void test_encode(void)
 	char dst[1024];
 	char dst4[4];
 	char dst6[6];
+	char result[1024];
 	spa_assert(spa_json_encode_string(dst, sizeof(dst), "test") == 6);
 	spa_assert(strcmp(dst, "\"test\"") == 0);
 	spa_assert(spa_json_encode_string(dst4, sizeof(dst4), "test") == 6);
@@ -162,6 +163,10 @@ static void test_encode(void)
 	spa_assert(strncmp(dst6, "\"test\"", 6) == 0);
 	spa_assert(spa_json_encode_string(dst, sizeof(dst), "test\"\n\r \t\b\f\'") == 20);
 	spa_assert(strcmp(dst, "\"test\\\"\\n\\r \\t\\b\\f'\"") == 0);
+	spa_assert(spa_json_encode_string(dst, sizeof(dst), "\x04\x05\x1f\x20\x01\x7f\x90") == 29);
+	spa_assert(strcmp(dst, "\"\\u0004\\u0005\\u001f \\u0001\x7f\x90\"") == 0);
+	spa_assert(spa_json_parse_string(dst, sizeof(dst), result) == 1);
+	spa_assert(strcmp(result, "\x04\x05\x1f\x20\x01\x7f\x90") == 0);
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])