diff --git a/lib/common/utils.js b/lib/common/utils.js
index 2faa6a1..0e05b14 100644
--- a/lib/common/utils.js
+++ b/lib/common/utils.js
@@ -41,15 +41,6 @@ function arrayReplaceAt(src, pos, newElements) {
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-var UNESCAPE_MD_RE = /\\([!"#$%&'()*+,\-.\/:;<=>?@[\\\]^_`{|}~])/g;
-
-function unescapeMd(str) {
-  if (str.indexOf('\\') < 0) { return str; }
-  return str.replace(UNESCAPE_MD_RE, '$1');
-}
-
-////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
 function isValidEntityCode(c) {
   /*eslint no-bitwise:0*/
   // broken sequence
@@ -79,8 +70,11 @@ function fromCodePoint(c) {
   return String.fromCharCode(c);
 }
 
-var NAMED_ENTITY_RE   = /&([a-z#][a-z0-9]{1,31});/gi;
+
+var UNESCAPE_MD_RE = /\\([!"#$%&'()*+,\-.\/:;<=>?@[\\\]^_`{|}~])/g;
+var NAMED_ENTITY_RE = /&([a-z#][a-z0-9]{1,31});/gi;
 var DIGITAL_ENTITY_TEST_RE = /^#((?:x[a-f0-9]{1,8}|[0-9]{1,8}))/i;
+var UNESCAPE_ALL_RE = new RegExp(UNESCAPE_MD_RE.source + '|' + NAMED_ENTITY_RE.source, 'gi');
 var entities = require('./entities');
 
 function replaceEntityPattern(match, name) {
@@ -106,6 +100,20 @@ function replaceEntities(str) {
   return str.replace(NAMED_ENTITY_RE, replaceEntityPattern);
 }
 
+function unescapeMd(str) {
+  if (str.indexOf('\\') < 0) { return str; }
+  return str.replace(UNESCAPE_MD_RE, '$1');
+}
+
+function unescapeAll(str) {
+  if (str.indexOf('\\') < 0 && str.indexOf('&') < 0) { return str; }
+
+  return str.replace(UNESCAPE_ALL_RE, function(match, escaped, entity) {
+    if (escaped) { return escaped; }
+    return replaceEntityPattern(match, entity);
+  });
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 var HTML_ESCAPE_TEST_RE = /[&<>"]/;
@@ -142,7 +150,7 @@ var encode = require('mdurl/encode');
 // - (?) punicode for domain mame (but encodeURI seems to work in real world)
 //
 function normalizeLink(url) {
-  return encode(replaceEntities(url));
+  return encode(url);
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -248,6 +256,7 @@ exports.assign              = assign;
 exports.isString            = isString;
 exports.has                 = has;
 exports.unescapeMd          = unescapeMd;
+exports.unescapeAll         = unescapeAll;
 exports.isValidEntityCode   = isValidEntityCode;
 exports.fromCodePoint       = fromCodePoint;
 exports.replaceEntities     = replaceEntities;
diff --git a/lib/helpers/parse_link_destination.js b/lib/helpers/parse_link_destination.js
index 57a75fb..91a6821 100644
--- a/lib/helpers/parse_link_destination.js
+++ b/lib/helpers/parse_link_destination.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 
 var normalizeLink = require('../common/utils').normalizeLink;
-var unescapeMd    = require('../common/utils').unescapeMd;
+var unescapeAll   = require('../common/utils').unescapeAll;
 
 
 module.exports = function parseLinkDestination(str, pos, max) {
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ module.exports = function parseLinkDestination(str, pos, max) {
       if (code === 0x0A /* \n */) { return result; }
       if (code === 0x3E /* > */) {
         result.pos = pos + 1;
-        result.str = normalizeLink(unescapeMd(str.slice(start + 1, pos)));
+        result.str = normalizeLink(unescapeAll(str.slice(start + 1, pos)));
         result.ok = true;
         return result;
       }
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ module.exports = function parseLinkDestination(str, pos, max) {
 
   if (start === pos) { return result; }
 
-  result.str = normalizeLink(unescapeMd(str.slice(start, pos)));
+  result.str = normalizeLink(unescapeAll(str.slice(start, pos)));
   result.lines = lines;
   result.pos = pos;
   result.ok = true;
diff --git a/test/fixtures/markdown-it/commonmark_extras.txt b/test/fixtures/markdown-it/commonmark_extras.txt
index 192b6a3..515922f 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/markdown-it/commonmark_extras.txt
+++ b/test/fixtures/markdown-it/commonmark_extras.txt
@@ -124,6 +124,21 @@ Multiline title in definitions:
 .
 
 
+Escaping entities in links:
+
+.
+[](<&quot;>)
+
+[](<\&quot;>)
+
+[](<\\&quot;>)
+.
+<p><a href="%22"></a></p>
+<p><a href="&amp;quot;"></a></p>
+<p><a href="%5C%22"></a></p>
+.
+
+
 Coverage. Directive can terminate paragraph.
 .
 a