diff --git a/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.cpp b/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.cpp
index 1b8cc84ba755..c0e6fe7fca05 100644
--- a/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.cpp
+++ b/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.cpp
@@ -206,11 +206,13 @@ QByteArray QgsMimeDataUtils::layerTreeNodesToUriList( const QList<QgsLayerTreeNo
 QString QgsMimeDataUtils::encode( const QStringList &items )
 {
   QString encoded;
+  // Do not escape colon twice
+  QRegularExpression re( "(?<!\\\\):" );
   Q_FOREACH ( const QString &item, items )
   {
     QString str = item;
     str.replace( '\\', QLatin1String( "\\\\" ) );
-    str.replace( ':', QLatin1String( "\\:" ) );
+    str.replace( re, QLatin1String( "\\:" ) );
     encoded += str + ':';
   }
   return encoded.left( encoded.length() - 1 );
diff --git a/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.h b/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.h
index f0699eec2ba0..192f376bd900 100644
--- a/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.h
+++ b/src/core/qgsmimedatautils.h
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsMimeDataUtils
     static QStringList decode( const QString &encoded );
     static QByteArray uriListToByteArray( const UriList &layers );
 
+
+    friend class TestQgsMimeDataUtils;
+
 };
 
 Q_DECLARE_METATYPE( QgsMimeDataUtils::UriList )
diff --git a/tests/src/core/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
index fbd3e926a98f..35d2329e0880 100755
--- a/tests/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ SET(TESTS
  testqgsmeshlayerrenderer.cpp
  testqgslayerdefinition.cpp
  testqgssqliteutils.cpp
+ testqgsmimedatautils.cpp
    )
 
 IF(WITH_QTWEBKIT)
diff --git a/tests/src/core/testqgslayerdefinition.cpp b/tests/src/core/testqgslayerdefinition.cpp
index 088aac2f4472..307f8157a576 100644
--- a/tests/src/core/testqgslayerdefinition.cpp
+++ b/tests/src/core/testqgslayerdefinition.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /***************************************************************************
-    testqgsfilefiledownloader.cpp
+    testqgslayerdefinition.cpp
      --------------------------------------
     Date                 : 07.06.2018
     Copyright            : (C) 2018 Alessandro Pasotti
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class TestQgsLayerDefinition: public QObject
     void cleanup(); // will be called after every testfunction.
 
     /**
-     * test that findLayers()
+     * test findLayers()
      */
     void testFindLayers();
 
diff --git a/tests/src/core/testqgsmimedatautils.cpp b/tests/src/core/testqgsmimedatautils.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d8cdaed00497
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/src/core/testqgsmimedatautils.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+/***************************************************************************
+    testqgsmimedatautils.cpp
+     --------------------------------------
+    Date                 : 18.06.2018
+    Copyright            : (C) 2018 Alessandro Pasotti
+    Email                : elpaso at itopen dot it
+ ***************************************************************************
+ *                                                                         *
+ *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  *
+ *   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by  *
+ *   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or     *
+ *   (at your option) any later version.                                   *
+ *                                                                         *
+ ***************************************************************************/
+
+
+#include "qgstest.h"
+#include <QObject>
+
+#include <qgsmimedatautils.h>
+
+const QString TEST_ENCODED_DATA( "raster:wms:A Fancy WMS From Ciriè City:crs=EPSG\\:2036&dpiMode=7&format=image/png&layers=lidar&styles=default"
+                                 "&url=https\\://geoegl.msp.gouv.qc.:EPSG\\\\:2036\\:EPSG\\\\:3857:image/tiff\\:image/jpeg" );
+
+class TestQgsMimeDataUtils: public QObject
+{
+    Q_OBJECT
+  public:
+    TestQgsMimeDataUtils() = default;
+
+  private slots:
+    void initTestCase(); // will be called before the first testfunction is executed.
+    void cleanupTestCase(); // will be called after the last testfunction was executed.
+    void init(); // will be called before each testfunction is executed.
+    void cleanup(); // will be called after every testfunction.
+
+    void testEncodeDecode();
+
+};
+
+
+void TestQgsMimeDataUtils::initTestCase()
+{
+  QgsApplication::init();
+  QgsApplication::initQgis();
+
+}
+
+void TestQgsMimeDataUtils::cleanupTestCase()
+{
+  QgsApplication::exitQgis();
+}
+
+void TestQgsMimeDataUtils::init()
+{
+}
+
+
+void TestQgsMimeDataUtils::cleanup()
+{
+}
+
+void TestQgsMimeDataUtils::testEncodeDecode()
+{
+
+  QgsMimeDataUtils::Uri uri;
+  uri.layerType = QStringLiteral( "raster" );
+  uri.name = QStringLiteral( "A Fancy WMS From Ciriè City" );
+  uri.providerKey = QStringLiteral( "wms" );
+  uri.supportedCrs << QStringLiteral( "EPSG:2036" ) <<  QStringLiteral( "EPSG:3857" ) ;
+  uri.supportedFormats << QStringLiteral( "image/tiff" ) << QStringLiteral( "image/jpeg" );
+  uri.uri = QStringLiteral( "crs=EPSG:2036&dpiMode=7&format=image/png&layers=lidar&styles=default&url=https://geoegl.msp.gouv.qc." );
+
+  QgsMimeDataUtils::UriList uriList;
+  uriList << uri;
+
+  QMimeData *mimeData =  QgsMimeDataUtils::encodeUriList( uriList );
+
+  QgsMimeDataUtils::Uri uriDecoded( QgsMimeDataUtils::decodeUriList( mimeData )[0] );
+
+  QCOMPARE( uriDecoded.name, uri.name );
+  QCOMPARE( uriDecoded.providerKey, uri.providerKey );
+  QCOMPARE( uriDecoded.supportedFormats, uri.supportedFormats );
+  QCOMPARE( uriDecoded.uri, uri.uri );
+  QCOMPARE( uriDecoded.supportedCrs, uri.supportedCrs );
+
+  QgsMimeDataUtils::decodeUriList( mimeData );
+
+  // Encode representation:
+  QString data( uri.data() );
+
+  QCOMPARE( data, TEST_ENCODED_DATA );
+
+  QStringList fragments( QgsMimeDataUtils::decode( data ) );
+
+  QCOMPARE( fragments[0], QString( "raster" ) );
+  QCOMPARE( fragments[1], QString( "wms" ) );
+  QCOMPARE( fragments[2], QString( "A Fancy WMS From Ciriè City" ) );
+  QCOMPARE( fragments[3], QString( "crs=EPSG:2036&dpiMode=7&format=image/png&layers=lidar&styles=default&url=https://geoegl.msp.gouv.qc." ) );
+  QCOMPARE( fragments[4], QString( "EPSG\\:2036:EPSG\\:3857" ) );
+
+}
+
+
+QGSTEST_MAIN( TestQgsMimeDataUtils )
+#include "testqgsmimedatautils.moc"
+
+