diff --git a/packages/chronicle/src/lib/image-utils.test.ts b/packages/chronicle/src/lib/image-utils.test.ts
index 5af4a7f..aa3a180 100644
--- a/packages/chronicle/src/lib/image-utils.test.ts
+++ b/packages/chronicle/src/lib/image-utils.test.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,14 @@ describe('buildOptimizedUrl', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('buildOptimizedUrl with backslashes', () => {
+  test('backslashes in input are not double-encoded', () => {
+    const url = buildOptimizedUrl('/_content/docs/imgs\\screenshot.png', 640);
+    expect(url).toContain('imgs%5Cscreenshot.png');
+    expect(url).not.toContain('%255C');
+  });
+});
+
 describe('constants', () => {
   test('ALLOWED_WIDTHS is sorted ascending', () => {
     for (let i = 1; i < ALLOWED_WIDTHS.length; i++) {
diff --git a/packages/chronicle/src/lib/remark-resolve-images.ts b/packages/chronicle/src/lib/remark-resolve-images.ts
index 25d6571..50401af 100644
--- a/packages/chronicle/src/lib/remark-resolve-images.ts
+++ b/packages/chronicle/src/lib/remark-resolve-images.ts
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ import { MdxNodeType } from './mdx-utils'
 import { isLocalImage, isSvg, buildOptimizedUrl, DEFAULT_WIDTH } from './image-utils'
 
 function resolveUrl(src: string, dir: string): string {
-  if (/^[a-z][a-z0-9+\-.]*:/i.test(src)) return src
-  if (src.startsWith('//')) return src
-  if (src.startsWith('#')) return src
-  if (src.startsWith('/_content/')) return src
+  const normalized = src.replace(/\\/g, '/')
+  if (/^[a-z][a-z0-9+\-.]*:/i.test(normalized)) return normalized
+  if (normalized.startsWith('//')) return normalized
+  if (normalized.startsWith('#')) return normalized
+  if (normalized.startsWith('/_content/')) return normalized
 
-  if (src.startsWith('/')) return `/_content${src}`
-  return `/_content/${path.posix.normalize(path.posix.join(dir, src))}`
+  if (normalized.startsWith('/')) return `/_content${normalized}`
+  return `/_content/${path.posix.normalize(path.posix.join(dir, normalized))}`
 }
 
 interface RemarkResolveImagesOptions {
diff --git a/packages/chronicle/src/server/api/image.ts b/packages/chronicle/src/server/api/image.ts
index b0d517d..0ba7812 100644
--- a/packages/chronicle/src/server/api/image.ts
+++ b/packages/chronicle/src/server/api/image.ts
@@ -52,14 +52,16 @@ async function evictIfNeeded(storage: ReturnType<typeof useStorage>) {
 export default defineHandler(async event => {
   const storage = useStorage(STORAGE_KEY)
 
-  const url = event.url.searchParams.get('url')
+  const rawUrl = event.url.searchParams.get('url')
   const wParam = event.url.searchParams.get('w')
   const qParam = event.url.searchParams.get('q')
 
-  if (!url || !wParam) {
+  if (!rawUrl || !wParam) {
     throw new HTTPError({ status: StatusCodes.BAD_REQUEST, message: 'Missing url or w parameter' })
   }
 
+  const url = rawUrl.replace(/\\/g, '/')
+
   if (!url.startsWith('/_content/')) {
     throw new HTTPError({ status: StatusCodes.BAD_REQUEST, message: 'Only local content images allowed' })
   }
diff --git a/packages/chronicle/src/server/utils/safe-path.test.ts b/packages/chronicle/src/server/utils/safe-path.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bddff84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/chronicle/src/server/utils/safe-path.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { safePath } from '@/server/utils/safe-path';
+
+describe('safePath', () => {
+  const base = '/app/content';
+
+  test('resolves valid path within base', () => {
+    expect(safePath(base, '/docs/intro.mdx')).toBe(path.resolve(base, 'docs/intro.mdx'));
+  });
+
+  test('returns null for path traversal', () => {
+    expect(safePath(base, '/../etc/passwd')).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  test('normalizes backslashes to forward slashes', () => {
+    const result = safePath(base, '/docs\\imgs\\screenshot.png');
+    expect(result).toBe(path.resolve(base, 'docs/imgs/screenshot.png'));
+  });
+
+  test('decodes URI-encoded characters', () => {
+    const result = safePath(base, '/docs/my%20image.png');
+    expect(result).toBe(path.resolve(base, 'docs/my image.png'));
+  });
+
+  test('strips query string before resolving', () => {
+    const result = safePath(base, '/docs/img.png?v=1');
+    expect(result).toBe(path.resolve(base, 'docs/img.png'));
+  });
+
+  test('returns null for malformed percent-encoding', () => {
+    expect(safePath(base, '/docs/%E0%A4%')).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/chronicle/src/server/utils/safe-path.ts b/packages/chronicle/src/server/utils/safe-path.ts
index 4d3867d..adbd957 100644
--- a/packages/chronicle/src/server/utils/safe-path.ts
+++ b/packages/chronicle/src/server/utils/safe-path.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,12 @@ import path from 'node:path';
  * Returns null if the resolved path escapes the base directory.
  */
 export function safePath(baseDir: string, urlPath: string): string | null {
-  const decoded = decodeURIComponent(urlPath.split('?')[0]);
+  let decoded: string;
+  try {
+    decoded = decodeURIComponent(urlPath.split('?')[0]).replace(/\\/g, '/');
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
   const resolved = path.resolve(baseDir, '.' + decoded);
   if (
     !resolved.startsWith(path.resolve(baseDir) + path.sep) &&