diff --git a/l10n.js b/l10n.js
index 9d99c68..903c039 100644
--- a/l10n.js
+++ b/l10n.js
@@ -199,7 +199,10 @@ document.webL10n = (function(window, document, undefined) {
       var reComment = /^\s*#|^\s*$/;
       var reSection = /^\s*\[(.*)\]\s*$/;
       var reImport = /^\s*@import\s+url\((.*)\)\s*$/i;
-      var reSplit = /^([^=\s]*)\s*=\s*(.+)$/; // TODO: escape EOLs with '\'
+      var reSplit = /^([^=\s]*)\s*=\s*(.+)$/;
+
+      // TODO: escape EOLs with '\'
+      text = text.replace(/\\[\r\n]{1,2}\s*/gm, '\\n');
 
       // parse the *.properties file into an associative array
       function parseRawLines(rawText, extendedSyntax) {