diff --git a/src/tools/launcher/bash_launcher.cc b/src/tools/launcher/bash_launcher.cc
index 3115c813f00a92..0020d5f92d55d3 100644
--- a/src/tools/launcher/bash_launcher.cc
+++ b/src/tools/launcher/bash_launcher.cc
@@ -45,18 +45,15 @@ ExitCode BashBinaryLauncher::Launch() {
   vector<wstring> origin_args = this->GetCommandlineArguments();
   wostringstream bash_command;
   wstring bash_main_file = GetBinaryPathWithoutExtension(origin_args[0]);
-  bash_command << GetEscapedArgument(bash_main_file,
-                                     /*escape_backslash = */ true);
+  bash_command << BashEscapeArg(bash_main_file);
   for (int i = 1; i < origin_args.size(); i++) {
     bash_command << L' ';
-    bash_command << GetEscapedArgument(origin_args[i],
-                                       /*escape_backslash = */ true);
+    bash_command << BashEscapeArg(origin_args[i]);
   }
 
   vector<wstring> args;
   args.push_back(L"-c");
-  args.push_back(
-      GetEscapedArgument(bash_command.str(), /*escape_backslash = */ true));
+  args.push_back(BashEscapeArg(bash_command.str()));
   return this->LaunchProcess(bash_binary, args);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/tools/launcher/java_launcher.cc b/src/tools/launcher/java_launcher.cc
index c7915e05603a20..e02d0ea1ff588b 100644
--- a/src/tools/launcher/java_launcher.cc
+++ b/src/tools/launcher/java_launcher.cc
@@ -411,8 +411,7 @@ ExitCode JavaBinaryLauncher::Launch() {
   vector<wstring> escaped_arguments;
   // Quote the arguments if having spaces
   for (const auto& arg : arguments) {
-    escaped_arguments.push_back(
-        GetEscapedArgument(arg, /*escape_backslash = */ false));
+    escaped_arguments.push_back(WindowsEscapeArg(arg));
   }
 
   ExitCode exit_code = this->LaunchProcess(java_bin, escaped_arguments);
diff --git a/src/tools/launcher/python_launcher.cc b/src/tools/launcher/python_launcher.cc
index 81d836c35ed261..5332ab1eeb801b 100644
--- a/src/tools/launcher/python_launcher.cc
+++ b/src/tools/launcher/python_launcher.cc
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ ExitCode PythonBinaryLauncher::Launch() {
 
   // Escape arguments that has spaces
   for (int i = 1; i < args.size(); i++) {
-    args[i] = GetEscapedArgument(args[i], /*escape_backslash = */ false);
+    args[i] = WindowsEscapeArg(args[i]);
   }
 
   return this->LaunchProcess(python_binary, args);
diff --git a/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.cc b/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.cc
index f1dc7eb895c20b..ecf2d5db177317 100644
--- a/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.cc
+++ b/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.cc
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ wstring GetBinaryPathWithExtension(const wstring& binary) {
   return GetBinaryPathWithoutExtension(binary) + L".exe";
 }
 
-wstring GetEscapedArgument(const wstring& argument, bool escape_backslash) {
+static wstring GetEscapedArgument(const wstring& argument, bool escape_backslash) {
   wstring escaped_arg;
   // escaped_arg will be at least this long
   escaped_arg.reserve(argument.size());
@@ -165,6 +165,16 @@ wstring GetEscapedArgument(const wstring& argument, bool escape_backslash) {
   return escaped_arg;
 }
 
+std::wstring BashEscapeArg(const std::wstring& arg) {
+  return GetEscapedArgument(arg, /* escape_backslash */ true);
+}
+
+std::wstring WindowsEscapeArg(const std::wstring& arg) {
+  // TODO(laszlocsomor): properly implement escaping syntax for CreateProcessW;
+  // it's different from Bash escaping syntax.
+  return GetEscapedArgument(arg, /* escape_backslash */ false);
+}
+
 // An environment variable has a maximum size limit of 32,767 characters
 // https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms683188.aspx
 static const int BUFFER_SIZE = 32767;
diff --git a/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.h b/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.h
index 7cd0cf21533202..51679698c8633c 100644
--- a/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.h
+++ b/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util.h
@@ -41,13 +41,19 @@ std::wstring GetBinaryPathWithoutExtension(const std::wstring& binary);
 // On Windows, if the binary path is foo/bar/bin then return foo/bar/bin.exe
 std::wstring GetBinaryPathWithExtension(const std::wstring& binary);
 
-// Escape a command line argument.
+// Escape a command line argument using Bash escaping syntax.
 //
-// If the argument has space, then we quote it.
-// Escape " to \"
-// Escape \ to \\ if escape_backslash is true
-std::wstring GetEscapedArgument(const std::wstring& argument,
-                                bool escape_backslash);
+// If the argument has space, then we quote it. We escape quote with a backslash
+// (from " to \") and escape a single backslash with another backslash (from \
+// to \\).
+std::wstring BashEscapeArg(const std::wstring& arg);
+
+// Escape a command line argument using Windows escaping syntax.
+//
+// This escaping lets us safely pass arguments to subprocesses created with
+// CreateProcessW. (The escaping rules are a bit complex, look at the function
+// implementation.)
+std::wstring WindowsEscapeArg(const std::wstring& arg);
 
 // Convert a path to an absolute Windows path with \\?\ prefix.
 // This method will print an error and exit if it cannot convert the path.
diff --git a/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util_test.cc b/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util_test.cc
index bedcdb7b130ac3..de018cfc8eadcb 100644
--- a/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util_test.cc
+++ b/src/tools/launcher/util/launcher_util_test.cc
@@ -74,22 +74,23 @@ TEST_F(LaunchUtilTest, GetBinaryPathWithExtensionTest) {
   ASSERT_EQ(L"foo.sh.exe", GetBinaryPathWithExtension(L"foo.sh"));
 }
 
-TEST_F(LaunchUtilTest, GetEscapedArgumentTest) {
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"\"", GetEscapedArgument(L"", true));
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo", GetEscapedArgument(L"foo", true));
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"foo bar\"", GetEscapedArgument(L"foo bar", true));
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"\\\"foo bar\\\"\"", GetEscapedArgument(L"\"foo bar\"", true));
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo\\\\bar", GetEscapedArgument(L"foo\\bar", true));
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo\\\"bar", GetEscapedArgument(L"foo\"bar", true));
+TEST_F(LaunchUtilTest, BashEscapeArgTest) {
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"\"", BashEscapeArg(L""));
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo", BashEscapeArg(L"foo"));
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"foo bar\"", BashEscapeArg(L"foo bar"));
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"\\\"foo bar\\\"\"", BashEscapeArg(L"\"foo bar\""));
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo\\\\bar", BashEscapeArg(L"foo\\bar"));
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo\\\"bar", BashEscapeArg(L"foo\"bar"));
   ASSERT_EQ(L"C:\\\\foo\\\\bar\\\\",
-            GetEscapedArgument(L"C:\\foo\\bar\\", true));
+            BashEscapeArg(L"C:\\foo\\bar\\"));
   ASSERT_EQ(L"\"C:\\\\foo foo\\\\bar\\\\\"",
-            GetEscapedArgument(L"C:\\foo foo\\bar\\", true));
+            BashEscapeArg(L"C:\\foo foo\\bar\\"));
+}
 
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo\\bar", GetEscapedArgument(L"foo\\bar", false));
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"C:\\foo\\bar\\", GetEscapedArgument(L"C:\\foo\\bar\\", false));
-  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"C:\\foo foo\\bar\\\"",
-            GetEscapedArgument(L"C:\\foo foo\\bar\\", false));
+TEST_F(LaunchUtilTest, WindowsEscapeArgTest) {
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"foo\\bar", WindowsEscapeArg(L"foo\\bar"));
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"C:\\foo\\bar\\", WindowsEscapeArg(L"C:\\foo\\bar\\"));
+  ASSERT_EQ(L"\"C:\\foo foo\\bar\\\"", WindowsEscapeArg(L"C:\\foo foo\\bar\\"));
 }
 
 TEST_F(LaunchUtilTest, DoesFilePathExistTest) {