diff --git a/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer.js b/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer.js
index 0914846628..808f68903e 100644
--- a/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer.js
+++ b/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer.js
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
   };
 
   var CPP_DIRECTIVE_WITH_LT_PATTERN = /^\s*#(if|define).*</;
-  var CPP_WCHAR_PATTERN = /L\'.\'/g;
+  var CPP_WCHAR_PATTERN = /L\'(\\)?.\'/g;
   var JAVA_PARAM_ANNOT_PATTERN = /(@[^\s]+)\(([^)]+)\)/g;
   var GO_BACKSLASH_LITERAL = '\'\\\\\'';
   var GLOBAL_LT_PATTERN = /</g;
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@
          * {#see https://github.com/isagalaev/highlight.js/issues/1412}
          */
         if (CPP_WCHAR_PATTERN.test(line)) {
-          line = line.replace(CPP_WCHAR_PATTERN, 'L"."');
+          line = line.replace(CPP_WCHAR_PATTERN, 'L"$1."');
         }
 
         return line;
diff --git a/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer_test.html b/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer_test.html
index eaa8d291d9..e618d3a73f 100644
--- a/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer_test.html
+++ b/polygerrit-ui/app/elements/diff/gr-syntax-layer/gr-syntax-layer_test.html
@@ -456,6 +456,11 @@ limitations under the License.
       line = 'wchar_t myChar = L\'#\'';
       var expected = 'wchar_t myChar = L"."';
       assert.equal(element._workaround('cpp', line), expected);
+
+      // Converts wchar_t character literal with escape sequence to string.
+      line = 'wchar_t myChar = L\'\\"\'';
+      expected = 'wchar_t myChar = L"\\."';
+      assert.equal(element._workaround('cpp', line), expected);
     });
 
     test('workaround go backslash character literals', function() {