diff --git a/news/changelog-1.5.md b/news/changelog-1.5.md
index 2e433b5013..a022444f9d 100644
--- a/news/changelog-1.5.md
+++ b/news/changelog-1.5.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ All changes included in 1.5:
 ## RevealJS Format
 
 - ([#8382](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/8382)): Strip whitespace from `div.columns` elements that might have been introduced by third-party processing.
+- ([#9117](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/9117)): Fix an issue with input filename containing special characters.
 
 ## Docusaurus Format
 
diff --git a/src/format/reveal/format-reveal-theme.ts b/src/format/reveal/format-reveal-theme.ts
index 5458e2bb0b..abf2048ffa 100644
--- a/src/format/reveal/format-reveal-theme.ts
+++ b/src/format/reveal/format-reveal-theme.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import { copyMinimal, copyTo } from "../../core/copy.ts";
 import { titleSlideScss } from "./format-reveal-title.ts";
 import { asCssFont, asCssNumber } from "../../core/css.ts";
 import { cssHasDarkModeSentinel } from "../../core/pandoc/css.ts";
+import { pandocNativeStr } from "../../core/pandoc/codegen.ts";
 
 export const kRevealLightThemes = [
   "white",
@@ -82,7 +83,9 @@ export async function revealTheme(
 
   // compute reveal url
   const revealUrl = pathWithForwardSlashes(revealDir);
-  metadata[kRevealJsUrl] = revealUrl;
+  // escape to avoid pandoc markdown parsing from YAML default file
+  // https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/9117
+  metadata[kRevealJsUrl] = pandocNativeStr(revealUrl).mappedString().value;
 
   // copy reveal dir
   const revealSrcDir = revealJsUrl ||
diff --git a/src/format/reveal/format-reveal.ts b/src/format/reveal/format-reveal.ts
index a31e1d1189..c55fb9af0e 100644
--- a/src/format/reveal/format-reveal.ts
+++ b/src/format/reveal/format-reveal.ts
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ import { revealMetadataFilter } from "./metadata.ts";
 import { ProjectContext } from "../../project/types.ts";
 import { titleSlidePartial } from "./format-reveal-title.ts";
 import { registerWriterFormatHandler } from "../format-handlers.ts";
+import { pandocNativeStr } from "../../core/pandoc/codegen.ts";
 
 export function revealResolveFormat(format: Format) {
   format.metadata = revealMetadataFilter(format.metadata);
@@ -211,7 +212,9 @@ export function revealjsFormat() {
               [kLinkCitations]: true,
               [kRevealJsScripts]: revealPluginData.pluginInit.scripts.map(
                 (script) => {
-                  return script.path;
+                  // escape to avoid pandoc markdown parsing from YAML default file
+                  // https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/9117
+                  return pandocNativeStr(script.path).mappedString().value;
                 },
               ),
             } as Metadata,
diff --git a/tests/docs/smoke-all/2024/03/27/9117--issue.qmd b/tests/docs/smoke-all/2024/03/27/9117--issue.qmd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e71e7c7b11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/docs/smoke-all/2024/03/27/9117--issue.qmd
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+format: revealjs
+_quarto:
+  tests:
+    revealjs:
+      ensureHtmlElements:
+        - ['*[src ^= "9117--issue_files/"', '*[href ^= "9117--issue_files/"']
+        - ['*[src ^= "9117–issue_files/"', '*[href ^= "9117–issue_files/"']
+---
+
+a little test
\ No newline at end of file