diff --git a/Lib/plistlib.py b/Lib/plistlib.py
index 93f3ef5e38af84..8f3c7404c62f2e 100644
--- a/Lib/plistlib.py
+++ b/Lib/plistlib.py
@@ -164,11 +164,10 @@ def _escape(text):
     if m is not None:
         raise ValueError("strings can't contain control characters; "
                          "use bytes instead")
-    text = text.replace("\r\n", "\n")       # convert DOS line endings
-    text = text.replace("\r", "\n")         # convert Mac line endings
     text = text.replace("&", "&")       # escape '&'
     text = text.replace("<", "&lt;")        # escape '<'
     text = text.replace(">", "&gt;")        # escape '>'
+    text = text.replace("\r", "&#13;")      # preserve CR via character reference
     return text
 
 class _PlistParser:
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_plistlib.py b/Lib/test/test_plistlib.py
index b9c261310bb567..e697d8fef73ff0 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_plistlib.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_plistlib.py
@@ -818,13 +818,26 @@ def test_controlcharacters(self):
             if i >= 32 or c in "\r\n\t":
                 # \r, \n and \t are the only legal control chars in XML
                 data = plistlib.dumps(testString, fmt=plistlib.FMT_XML)
-                if c != "\r":
-                    self.assertEqual(plistlib.loads(data), testString)
+                self.assertEqual(plistlib.loads(data), testString)
             else:
                 with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                     plistlib.dumps(testString, fmt=plistlib.FMT_XML)
             plistlib.dumps(testString, fmt=plistlib.FMT_BINARY)
 
+    def test_cr_newline_roundtrip(self):
+        # gh-139423: Carriage returns should survive XML plist round-trip.
+        test_cases = [
+            "hello\rworld",        # standalone CR
+            "hello\r\nworld",      # CRLF
+            "a\rb\nc\r\nd",        # mixed newlines
+            "\r",                   # bare CR
+            "\r\n",                 # bare CRLF
+        ]
+        for s in test_cases:
+            with self.subTest(s=s):
+                data = plistlib.dumps(s, fmt=plistlib.FMT_XML)
+                self.assertEqual(plistlib.loads(data), s)
+
     def test_non_bmp_characters(self):
         pl = {'python': '\U0001f40d'}
         for fmt in ALL_FORMATS:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-09-14-30-00.gh-issue-139423.UD0SN_qTKdI.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-09-14-30-00.gh-issue-139423.UD0SN_qTKdI.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3712383fc1b4da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-09-14-30-00.gh-issue-139423.UD0SN_qTKdI.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Fixed :mod:`plistlib` to preserve carriage return characters (``\r``) during
+XML plist round-trips. Previously, ``\r`` and ``\r\n`` were normalized to
+``\n`` during serialization, causing data corruption. Carriage returns are now
+encoded as ``&#13;`` XML character references, which the XML parser preserves.