diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index b00aa291..c0dfa0ef 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # httr2 (development version)
 
+* Colons in paths are no longer escaped.
+
 # httr2 1.2.0
 
 ## Lifecycle changes
diff --git a/R/url.R b/R/url.R
index 2d3417c9..93be86c2 100644
--- a/R/url.R
+++ b/R/url.R
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ url_build <- function(url) {
     query <- I(url_query_build(url$query))
   }
 
-  curl::curl_modify_url(
+  url <- curl::curl_modify_url(
     scheme = url$scheme,
     host = url$hostname,
     user = url$username,
@@ -278,6 +278,17 @@ url_build <- function(url) {
     query = query,
     fragment = url$fragment
   )
+
+  # Workaround https://github.com/curl/curl/issues/17977
+  # curl url parser esacapes colons in paths which google seems to use
+  # quite frequently. So we hack the problem away for now, restoring the
+  # behaviour of httr2 1.1.2
+  if (grepl("%3A", url, fixed = TRUE)) {
+    path <- curl::curl_parse_url(url, decode = FALSE)$path
+    path <- gsub("%3A", ":", path, fixed = TRUE)
+    url <- curl::curl_modify_url(url, path = I(path))
+  }
+  url
 }
 
 #' Parse query parameters and/or build a string
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-url.R b/tests/testthat/test-url.R
index cecc931a..b01ab474 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-url.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-url.R
@@ -101,6 +101,13 @@ test_that("encodes params and paths", {
   )
 })
 
+test_that("colons in paths are left as is", {
+  expect_equal(
+    url_modify("https://example.com", path = "a:b/foo bar/"),
+    "https://example.com/a:b/foo%20bar/"
+  )
+})
+
 test_that("checks various query formats", {
   url <- "http://example.com"