diff --git a/kallithea/lib/diffs.py b/kallithea/lib/diffs.py
--- a/kallithea/lib/diffs.py
+++ b/kallithea/lib/diffs.py
@@ -549,6 +549,19 @@ _hg_header_re = re.compile(br"""
 _header_next_check = re.compile(br'''(?!@)(?!literal )(?!delta )''')
 
 
+_git_bs_escape_re = re.compile(r'\\(?:([^0-9])|([0-9]{3}))')
+
+
+_git_bs_escape_dict = {'\\': '\\', '"': '"', 'r': '\r', 'n': '\n', 't': '\t'}
+
+
+def _git_bs_unescape_m(m):
+    c = m.group(1)
+    if c is not None:
+        return _git_bs_escape_dict.get(c) or ('\\' + c)
+    return chr(int(m.group(2), 8))
+
+
 def _get_header(vcs, diff_chunk):
     """
     Parses a Git diff for a single file (header and chunks) and returns a tuple with:
@@ -569,6 +582,11 @@ def _get_header(vcs, diff_chunk):
     if match is None:
         raise Exception('diff not recognized as valid %s diff: %r' % (vcs, safe_str(bytes(diff_chunk[:1000]))))
     meta_info = {k: None if v is None else safe_str(v) for k, v in match.groupdict().items()}
+    if vcs == 'git':
+        for k in ['a_path', 'b_path', 'a_file', 'b_file']:
+            v = meta_info.get(k)
+            if v:
+                meta_info[k] = _git_bs_escape_re.sub(_git_bs_unescape_m, v)
     rest = diff_chunk[match.end():]
     if rest:
         if _header_next_check.match(rest):
diff --git a/kallithea/tests/models/test_diff_parsers.py b/kallithea/tests/models/test_diff_parsers.py
--- a/kallithea/tests/models/test_diff_parsers.py
+++ b/kallithea/tests/models/test_diff_parsers.py
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ DIFF_FIXTURES = {
           'ops': {RENAMED_FILENODE: 'file renamed from oh no to oh yes'}}),
     ],
     'git_diff_quoting.diff': [
-        (r'\"foo\"',  # TODO: quotes should not be escaped
+        ('"foo"',
          'added',
          {'added': 1,
           'binary': False,
@@ -281,19 +281,19 @@ DIFF_FIXTURES = {
           'binary': False,
           'deleted': 0,
           'ops': {1: 'new file 100644'}}),
-        ("'foo'" r'\"foo\"',  # TODO: quotes should not be escaped
+        ("'foo'" '"foo"',
          'added',
          {'added': 1,
           'binary': False,
           'deleted': 0,
           'ops': {1: 'new file 100644'}}),
-        (r'a\r\nb',  # TODO: escaped
+        ('a\r\nb',  # Note: will be parsed correctly, but other parts of Kallithea can't handle it
          'added',
          {'added': 1,
           'binary': False,
           'deleted': 0,
           'ops': {1: 'new file 100644'}}),
-        (r'foo\rfoo',  # TODO: escaped
+        ('foo\rfoo',  # Note: will be parsed correctly, but other parts of Kallithea can't handle it
          'added',
         {'added': 0,
          'binary': True,
@@ -311,13 +311,13 @@ DIFF_FIXTURES = {
           'binary': False,
           'deleted': 0,
           'ops': {1: 'new file 100644'}}),
-        (r'esc\033foo',  # TODO: escaped
+        ('esc\033foo',  # Note: will be parsed and handled correctly, but without good UI
          'added',
          {'added': 0,
           'binary': True,
           'deleted': 0,
           'ops': {1: 'new file 100644'}}),
-        (r'tab\tfoo',  # TODO: escaped
+        ('tab\tfoo',  # Note: will be parsed and handled correctly, but without good UI
          'added',
          {'added': 0,
           'binary': True,