diff --git a/lib/6to5/generation/generators/types.js b/lib/6to5/generation/generators/types.js
index 7a5e368835..80c72b1a70 100644
--- a/lib/6to5/generation/generators/types.js
+++ b/lib/6to5/generation/generators/types.js
@@ -74,7 +74,16 @@ exports.Literal = function (node) {
   var val  = node.value;
   var type = typeof val;
 
-  if (type === "boolean" || type === "number" || type === "string") {
+  if (type === "string") {
+    val = JSON.stringify(val);
+
+    // escape unicode characters
+    val = val.replace(/[\u007f-\uffff]/g, function(c) {
+      return "\\u" + ("0000" + c.charCodeAt(0).toString(16)).slice(-4);
+    });
+
+    this.push(val);
+  } else if (type === "boolean" || type === "number") {
     this.push(JSON.stringify(val));
   } else if (node.regex) {
     this.push("/" + node.regex.pattern + "/" + node.regex.flags);
diff --git a/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/actual.js b/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/actual.js
index 936cce21e5..89db0341a3 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/actual.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/actual.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 5;
 "foobar";
+"\n\r\u2028\u2029";
 /foobar/g;
 null;
 true;
diff --git a/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/expected.js b/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/expected.js
index 936cce21e5..89db0341a3 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/expected.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/generation/types/Literal/expected.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 5;
 "foobar";
+"\n\r\u2028\u2029";
 /foobar/g;
 null;
 true;