diff --git a/api/src/org/labkey/api/reader/TabLoader.java b/api/src/org/labkey/api/reader/TabLoader.java
index bb032c90537..f827106f888 100644
--- a/api/src/org/labkey/api/reader/TabLoader.java
+++ b/api/src/org/labkey/api/reader/TabLoader.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import org.labkey.api.dataiterator.HashDataIterator;
 import org.labkey.api.iterator.BeanIterator;
 import org.labkey.api.iterator.CloseableIterator;
+import org.labkey.api.settings.AppProps;
 import org.labkey.api.util.FileType;
 import org.labkey.api.util.FileUtil;
 import org.labkey.api.util.JunitUtil;
@@ -67,6 +68,8 @@
  */
 public class TabLoader extends DataLoader
 {
+    public static final String FEATUREFLAG_UNESCAPE_BACKSLASH  = "dataloader-unescape-backslashes";
+
     public static final FileType TSV_FILE_TYPE = new TabFileType(Arrays.asList(".tsv", ".txt"), ".tsv", "text/tab-separated-values");
     public static final FileType CSV_FILE_TYPE = new TabFileType(Collections.singletonList(".csv"), ".csv", "text/comma-separated-values");
 
@@ -200,7 +203,7 @@ public FileType getFileType()
 
     private boolean _parseQuotes = true;
     private boolean _parseEnclosedQuotes = false; // only treat quote as quote if it comes in pairs, otherwise treat it as a regular character
-    private boolean _unescapeBackslashes = true;
+    private boolean _unescapeBackslashes = AppProps.getInstance().isOptionalFeatureEnabled(FEATUREFLAG_UNESCAPE_BACKSLASH);
 
     // Infer whether there are headers
     public TabLoader(File inputFile)
diff --git a/core/src/org/labkey/core/CoreModule.java b/core/src/org/labkey/core/CoreModule.java
index 5b9746caec2..6a18a5d3c88 100644
--- a/core/src/org/labkey/core/CoreModule.java
+++ b/core/src/org/labkey/core/CoreModule.java
@@ -543,6 +543,11 @@ public QuerySchema createSchema(DefaultSchema schema, Module module)
             "Resolve Missing Lookup Values to Null",
             "When Lookup Validation for a field is not selected and lookup by alternate key is enabled, resolves missing lookup values to null instead of throwing an error. This option will be removed in LabKey Server v25.11.",
             false, false, OptionalFeatureService.FeatureType.Deprecated));
+        OptionalFeatureService.get().addFeatureFlag(new OptionalFeatureFlag(TabLoader.FEATUREFLAG_UNESCAPE_BACKSLASH,
+                "Unescape backslash character on import",
+                "Treat backslash '\\' character as an escape character when loading data from file.",
+                false, false, OptionalFeatureService.FeatureType.Deprecated));
+
 
         SiteValidationService svc = SiteValidationService.get();
         if (null != svc)
diff --git a/study/test/src/org/labkey/test/tests/study/StudyDatasetFileFieldTest.java b/study/test/src/org/labkey/test/tests/study/StudyDatasetFileFieldTest.java
index 3bd79fbf2e7..8c354e6a0f8 100644
--- a/study/test/src/org/labkey/test/tests/study/StudyDatasetFileFieldTest.java
+++ b/study/test/src/org/labkey/test/tests/study/StudyDatasetFileFieldTest.java
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ public void testFileField() throws IOException, CommandException
 
     private void importFilePathError(String participantId, String sequenceNum, String filePath)
     {
-        String pasteData = TestDataUtils.tsvStringFromRowMapsEscapeBackslash(List.of(
+        String pasteData = TestDataUtils.tsvStringFromRowMaps(List.of(
                 Map.of("ParticipantId", participantId, "SequenceNum", sequenceNum, FILE_FIELD_1, filePath)),
                 List.of("ParticipantId", "SequenceNum", FILE_FIELD_1), true);
         setFormElement(Locator.name("text"), pasteData);