diff --git a/stores/ini/store.go b/stores/ini/store.go
index 350142d85..83605000e 100644
--- a/stores/ini/store.go
+++ b/stores/ini/store.go
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ func NewStore(c *config.INIStoreConfig) *Store {
 }
 
 func (store Store) encodeTree(branches sops.TreeBranches) ([]byte, error) {
-	iniFile := ini.Empty()
+	iniFile := ini.Empty(ini.LoadOptions{AllowNonUniqueSections: true})
+	iniFile.DeleteSection(ini.DefaultSection)
 	for _, branch := range branches {
 		for _, item := range branch {
 			if _, ok := item.Key.(sops.Comment); ok {
@@ -95,7 +96,7 @@ func (store Store) iniFromTreeBranches(branches sops.TreeBranches) ([]byte, erro
 }
 
 func (store Store) treeBranchesFromIni(in []byte) (sops.TreeBranches, error) {
-	iniFile, err := ini.Load(in)
+	iniFile, err := ini.LoadSources(ini.LoadOptions{AllowNonUniqueSections: true}, in)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -143,7 +144,7 @@ func (store Store) treeItemFromSection(section *ini.Section) (sops.TreeItem, err
 
 // LoadEncryptedFile loads encrypted INI file's bytes onto a sops.Tree runtime object
 func (store *Store) LoadEncryptedFile(in []byte) (sops.Tree, error) {
-	iniFileOuter, err := ini.Load(in)
+	iniFileOuter, err := ini.LoadSources(ini.LoadOptions{AllowNonUniqueSections: true}, in)
 	if err != nil {
 		return sops.Tree{}, err
 	}
diff --git a/stores/ini/store_test.go b/stores/ini/store_test.go
index 3e833b54c..b1aff6cf9 100644
--- a/stores/ini/store_test.go
+++ b/stores/ini/store_test.go
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ package ini
 import (
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
 func TestDecodeIni(t *testing.T) {
@@ -127,6 +127,55 @@ func TestEncodeIniWithEscaping(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, branches)
 }
 
+func TestEncodeIniWithDuplicateSections(t *testing.T) {
+	branches := sops.TreeBranches{
+		sops.TreeBranch{
+			sops.TreeItem{
+				Key:   "DEFAULT",
+				Value: interface{}(sops.TreeBranch(nil)),
+			},
+			sops.TreeItem{
+				Key: "foo",
+				Value: sops.TreeBranch{
+					sops.TreeItem{
+						Key:   "foo",
+						Value: "bar",
+					},
+					sops.TreeItem{
+						Key:   "baz",
+						Value: "3.0",
+					},
+					sops.TreeItem{
+						Key:   "qux",
+						Value: "false",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			sops.TreeItem{
+				Key: "foo",
+				Value: sops.TreeBranch{
+					sops.TreeItem{
+						Key:   "foo",
+						Value: "bar",
+					},
+					sops.TreeItem{
+						Key:   "baz",
+						Value: "3.0",
+					},
+					sops.TreeItem{
+						Key:   "qux",
+						Value: "false",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	out, err := Store{}.iniFromTreeBranches(branches)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	expected, _ := Store{}.treeBranchesFromIni(out)
+	assert.Equal(t, expected, branches)
+}
+
 func TestUnmarshalMetadataFromNonSOPSFile(t *testing.T) {
 	data := []byte(`hello=2`)
 	store := Store{}