diff --git a/pd/src/s_file.c b/pd/src/s_file.c
index b695f11e0e2d5fbb32c070ed90a50a641b2ede5c..8ffcffcaf090df721f794d0b0a26772a6e23e9a6 100644
--- a/pd/src/s_file.c
+++ b/pd/src/s_file.c
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ static void sys_initloadpreferences(void)
     //   "path1" : "\/System\/Library\/Fonts"     path1: /System/Library/Fonts
     // }
     snprintf(cmdbuf, MAXPDSTRING,
-        "plutil -convert json -r -o - %s.plist "
+        "plutil -convert json -r -o - \"%s.plist\" "
         "| sed -E "
           "-e 's/[{}]//g' "
           "-e 's/^ *\"(([^\"]|\\\\.)*)\" *: *\"(([^\"]|\\\\.)*)\".*/\\1: \\3/' "