diff --git a/src/Avalonia.Base/Platform/Storage/FileIO/BclLauncher.cs b/src/Avalonia.Base/Platform/Storage/FileIO/BclLauncher.cs
index 4342b7b2f2a..242b8e6d41b 100644
--- a/src/Avalonia.Base/Platform/Storage/FileIO/BclLauncher.cs
+++ b/src/Avalonia.Base/Platform/Storage/FileIO/BclLauncher.cs
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Avalonia.Compatibility;
-using Avalonia.Metadata;
 
 namespace Avalonia.Platform.Storage.FileIO;
 
@@ -44,7 +43,8 @@ private static bool Exec(string urlOrFile)
         {
             // If no associated application/json MimeType is found xdg-open opens return error
             // but it tries to open it anyway using the console editor (nano, vim, other..)
-            ShellExec($"xdg-open {urlOrFile}", waitForExit: false);
+            var args = EscapeForShell(urlOrFile);
+            ShellExecRaw($"xdg-open \\\"{args}\\\"", waitForExit: false);
             return true;
         }
         else if (OperatingSystemEx.IsWindows() || OperatingSystemEx.IsMacOS())
@@ -63,17 +63,18 @@ private static bool Exec(string urlOrFile)
             return false;
         }
     }
-
-    private static void ShellExec(string cmd, bool waitForExit = true)
+    
+    private static string EscapeForShell(string input) => Regex
+        .Replace(input, "(?=[`~!#&*()|;'<>])", "\\")
+        .Replace("\"", "\\\\\\\"");
+    
+    private static void ShellExecRaw(string cmd, bool waitForExit = true)
     {
-        var escapedArgs = Regex.Replace(cmd, "(?=[`~!#&*()|;'<>])", "\\")
-            .Replace("\"", "\\\\\\\"");
-
         using (var process = Process.Start(
                    new ProcessStartInfo
                    {
                        FileName = "/bin/sh",
-                       Arguments = $"-c \"{escapedArgs}\"",
+                       Arguments = $"-c \"{cmd}\"",
                        RedirectStandardOutput = true,
                        UseShellExecute = false,
                        CreateNoWindow = true,