diff --git a/src/qml/jsruntime/qv4urlobject.cpp b/src/qml/jsruntime/qv4urlobject.cpp
index 4417d327c6..637d033bd4 100644
--- a/src/qml/jsruntime/qv4urlobject.cpp
+++ b/src/qml/jsruntime/qv4urlobject.cpp
@@ -248,7 +248,10 @@ QString UrlObject::search() const
     if (auto url = QUrl(href()); !url.hasQuery() || url.query().isEmpty())
         return QLatin1String("");
 
-    return QLatin1Char('?') + url.query(QUrl::ComponentFormattingOptions(QUrl::ComponentFormattingOption::FullyEncoded));
+    constexpr auto options = QUrl::ComponentFormattingOption::EncodeSpaces
+            | QUrl::ComponentFormattingOption::EncodeUnicode
+            | QUrl::ComponentFormattingOption::EncodeReserved;
+    return u'?' + url.query(options);
 }
 
 QUrl UrlObject::toQUrl() const
diff --git a/tests/auto/qml/qv4urlobject/tst_qv4urlobject.cpp b/tests/auto/qml/qv4urlobject/tst_qv4urlobject.cpp
index 886bfda018..b74ec3d583 100644
--- a/tests/auto/qml/qv4urlobject/tst_qv4urlobject.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/qml/qv4urlobject/tst_qv4urlobject.cpp
@@ -116,6 +116,14 @@ void tst_urlobject::urlObject_search_data()
             << "var url = new URL(\"http://google.com/search/?a=㉽\");"
                "url.search"
             << "?a=%E3%89%BD";
+    QTest::newRow("backslash")
+            // The JS string in the C++ source ends in 4 backslashes.
+            // The C++ compiler turns that into 2 backslashes.
+            // QV4 receives source code containing a string literal ending in two backslashes.
+            // The resulting JS string ends in a single backslash.
+            << "var url = new URL('http://google.com/search/?q=\\\\');"
+               "url.search"
+            << "?q=\\";
 }
 
 void tst_urlobject::urlObject_href()