diff --git a/src/basic/terminal-util.c b/src/basic/terminal-util.c
index 8ded46f4938..4172db12a5b 100644
--- a/src/basic/terminal-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/terminal-util.c
@@ -1923,12 +1923,12 @@ int get_default_background_color(double *ret_red, double *ret_green, double *ret
         if (tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSADRAIN, &new_termios) < 0)
                 return -errno;
 
-        r = loop_write(STDOUT_FILENO, "\x1B]11;?\x07", SIZE_MAX);
+        r = loop_write(STDOUT_FILENO, "\x1B]11;?" ANSI_ST, SIZE_MAX);
         if (r < 0)
                 goto finish;
 
         usec_t end = usec_add(now(CLOCK_MONOTONIC), 333 * USEC_PER_MSEC);
-        char buf[STRLEN("\x1B]11;rgb:0/0/0\x07")]; /* shortest possible reply */
+        char buf[STRLEN("\x1B]11;rgb:0/0/0" ANSI_ST)]; /* shortest possible reply */
         size_t buf_full = 0;
         BackgroundColorContext context = {};
 
diff --git a/src/basic/terminal-util.h b/src/basic/terminal-util.h
index b446e547d60..3d02e92d0bf 100644
--- a/src/basic/terminal-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/terminal-util.h
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@
 #define ANSI_WINDOW_TITLE_PUSH "\x1b[22;2t"
 #define ANSI_WINDOW_TITLE_POP "\x1b[23;2t"
 
+/* ANSI "string terminator" character ("ST"). Terminal emulators typically allow three different ones: 0x07,
+ * 0x9c, and 0x1B 0x5C. We'll avoid 0x07 (BEL, aka ^G) since it might trigger unexpected TTY signal
+ * handling. And we'll avoid 0x9c since that's also valid regular codepoint in UTF-8 and elsewhere, and
+ * creates ambiguities. Because of that some terminal emulators explicitly choose not to support it. Hence we
+ * use 0x1B 0x5c */
+#define ANSI_ST "\e\\"
+
 bool isatty_safe(int fd);
 
 int terminal_reset_defensive(int fd, bool switch_to_text);
diff --git a/src/shared/pretty-print.c b/src/shared/pretty-print.c
index df1c20fa244..1e9819ab093 100644
--- a/src/shared/pretty-print.c
+++ b/src/shared/pretty-print.c
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ int terminal_urlify(const char *url, const char *text, char **ret) {
                 text = url;
 
         if (urlify_enabled())
-                n = strjoin("\x1B]8;;", url, "\a", text, "\x1B]8;;\a");
+                n = strjoin("\x1B]8;;", url, ANSI_ST, text, "\x1B]8;;" ANSI_ST);
         else
                 n = strdup(text);
         if (!n)
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ void draw_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix, double percentage) {
                  * https://conemu.github.io/en/AnsiEscapeCodes.html#ConEmu_specific_OSC
                  * https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/pull/8055
                  */
-                fprintf(stderr, "\x1B]9;4;1;%u\a", (unsigned) ceil(percentage));
+                fprintf(stderr, "\x1B]9;4;1;%u" ANSI_ST, (unsigned) ceil(percentage));
 
                 size_t cols = columns();
                 size_t prefix_width = utf8_console_width(prefix) + 1 /* space */;
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ void clear_progress_bar_unbuffered(const char *prefix) {
                       stderr);
         else
                 /* Undo Windows Terminal progress indication again. */
-                fputs("\x1B]9;4;0;;\a"
+                fputs("\x1B]9;4;0;;" ANSI_ST
                       ANSI_ERASE_TO_END_OF_LINE, stderr);
 
         fputc('\r', stderr);
diff --git a/src/shared/ptyfwd.c b/src/shared/ptyfwd.c
index c06c279d87b..11701f67687 100644
--- a/src/shared/ptyfwd.c
+++ b/src/shared/ptyfwd.c
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ static int insert_window_title_fix(PTYForward *f, size_t offset) {
         if (!t)
                 return 0;
 
-        _cleanup_free_ char *joined = strjoin("\x1b]0;", f->title_prefix, t, "\a");
+        _cleanup_free_ char *joined = strjoin("\x1b]0;", f->title_prefix, t, ANSI_ST);
         if (!joined)
                 return -ENOMEM;
 
@@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ static int do_shovel(PTYForward *f) {
                 if (f->title) {
                         if (!strextend(&f->out_buffer,
                                        ANSI_WINDOW_TITLE_PUSH
-                                       "\x1b]2;", f->title, "\a"))
+                                       "\x1b]2;", f->title, ANSI_ST))
                                 return log_oom();
                 }