diff --git a/core/encoding/json/parser.odin b/core/encoding/json/parser.odin
index f6ca0b3ca..47e0117e8 100644
--- a/core/encoding/json/parser.odin
+++ b/core/encoding/json/parser.odin
@@ -409,7 +409,23 @@ unquote_string :: proc(token: Token, spec: Specification, allocator := context.a
 		return clone_string(s, allocator, loc)
 	}
 
-	b := bytes_make(len(s) + 2*utf8.UTF_MAX, 1, allocator) or_return
+	// A byte that is not valid UTF-8 is replaced by utf8.RUNE_ERROR, which encodes
+	// wider than the single byte it stands in for, so a string holding several of
+	// them unquotes to more bytes than it was quoted in. Count them up front so the
+	// buffer fits. Nothing else in the loop below grows its input: a two-byte
+	// escape like \n writes one byte, \xXX writes at most two for four, \uXXXX at
+	// most three for six, and a surrogate pair four for twelve.
+	extra := 0
+	replacement_size := utf8.rune_size(utf8.RUNE_ERROR)
+	for j := i; j < len(s); {
+		r, size := utf8.decode_rune_in_string(s[j:])
+		if r == utf8.RUNE_ERROR && size == 1 {
+			extra += replacement_size - 1
+		}
+		j += size
+	}
+
+	b := bytes_make(len(s) + 2*utf8.UTF_MAX + extra, 1, allocator) or_return
 	w := copy(b, s[0:i])
 
 	if len(b) == 0 && allocator.data == nil {
diff --git a/tests/core/encoding/json/test_core_json.odin b/tests/core/encoding/json/test_core_json.odin
index 1ef84e07b..a789f3339 100644
--- a/tests/core/encoding/json/test_core_json.odin
+++ b/tests/core/encoding/json/test_core_json.odin
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package test_core_json
 
 import "core:encoding/json"
 import "core:testing"
+import "core:unicode/utf8"
 import "core:mem/virtual"
 import "base:runtime"
 
@@ -428,6 +429,24 @@ utf8_string_of_multibyte_characters :: proc(t: ^testing.T) {
 	testing.expectf(t, err == nil, "Expected `json.parse` to return nil, got %v", err)
 }
 
+@test
+invalid_utf8_in_string_is_replaced :: proc(t: ^testing.T) {
+	// Every one of these bytes is invalid on its own, so each is replaced by
+	// U+FFFD, which is three bytes: the unquoted string is longer than the quoted
+	// one, and the buffer has to have been sized for that.
+	val, err := json.parse_string("\"\xff\xfe\xff\xfe\xff\xfe\xff\xfe\"")
+	defer json.destroy_value(val)
+	testing.expectf(t, err == nil, "Expected `json.parse_string` to return nil, got %v", err)
+
+	str, ok := val.(json.String)
+	testing.expect(t, ok, "Expected a string value")
+	testing.expectf(t, len(str) == 8 * utf8.rune_size(utf8.RUNE_ERROR), "Expected eight replacement characters, got %d bytes", len(str))
+	testing.expect(t, utf8.valid_string(string(str)), "Expected the unquoted string to be valid UTF-8")
+	for r in string(str) {
+		testing.expectf(t, r == utf8.RUNE_ERROR, "Expected every rune to be U+FFFD, got %U", r)
+	}
+}
+
 @test
 struct_with_ignore_tags :: proc(t: ^testing.T) {
 	My_Struct :: struct {