diff --git a/src/vs/editor/browser/services/codeEditorServiceImpl.ts b/src/vs/editor/browser/services/codeEditorServiceImpl.ts
index f5826bda6ed..9169bfce8f5 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/browser/services/codeEditorServiceImpl.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/browser/services/codeEditorServiceImpl.ts
@@ -323,9 +323,8 @@ class DecorationRenderHelper {
 	public static getCSSTextForModelDecorationGlyphMarginClassName(opts:IThemeDecorationRenderOptions): string {
 		let cssTextArr = [];
 
-		if (typeof opts.gutterIconUrl !== 'undefined') {
-			// escape at least the single quote, see https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1/#url
-			cssTextArr.push(strings.format(this._CSS_MAP.gutterIconPath, opts.gutterIconUrl.replace(/'/g, '\\\'')));
+		if (typeof opts.gutterIconPath !== 'undefined') {
+			cssTextArr.push(strings.format(this._CSS_MAP.gutterIconPath, URI.parse(opts.gutterIconPath).toString()));
 			if (typeof opts.gutterIconSize !== 'undefined') {
 				cssTextArr.push(strings.format(this._CSS_MAP.gutterIconSize, opts.gutterIconSize));
 			}
diff --git a/src/vs/editor/common/editorCommon.ts b/src/vs/editor/common/editorCommon.ts
index 793c91b1c23..3dac506d42b 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/common/editorCommon.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/common/editorCommon.ts
@@ -3788,7 +3788,7 @@ export interface IThemeDecorationRenderOptions {
 	color?: string;
 	letterSpacing?: string;
 
-	gutterIconUrl?: string;
+	gutterIconPath?: string;
 	gutterIconSize?: string;
 
 	overviewRulerColor?: string;
diff --git a/src/vs/editor/test/browser/services/decorationRenderOptions.test.ts b/src/vs/editor/test/browser/services/decorationRenderOptions.test.ts
index c67cb1d53c0..3d009c2647f 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/test/browser/services/decorationRenderOptions.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/test/browser/services/decorationRenderOptions.test.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {IDecorationRenderOptions} from 'vs/editor/common/editorCommon';
 
 suite('Browser Services - EditorLayoutProvider', () => {
 	var options: IDecorationRenderOptions = {
-		gutterIconUrl: 'https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/blob/master/resources/linux/code.png',
+		gutterIconPath: 'https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/blob/master/resources/linux/code.png',
 		gutterIconSize: 'contain',
 		backgroundColor: 'red',
 		borderColor: 'yellow'
diff --git a/src/vs/vscode.d.ts b/src/vs/vscode.d.ts
index f6f1348ff77..46eaa6f13da 100644
--- a/src/vs/vscode.d.ts
+++ b/src/vs/vscode.d.ts
@@ -782,9 +782,9 @@ declare namespace vscode {
 		letterSpacing?: string;
 
 		/**
-		 * An **absolute path** to an image or an URI to be rendered in the gutter.
+		 * An **absolute path** to an image to be rendered in the gutterIconPath.
 		 */
-		gutterIconPath?: string | Uri;
+		gutterIconPath?: string;
 
 		/**
 		 * Specifies the size of the gutter icon.
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostEditors.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostEditors.ts
index 500276ded61..98e20ebfd63 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostEditors.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostEditors.ts
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class TextEditorDecorationType implements vscode.TextEditorDecorationType {
 	constructor(proxy: MainThreadEditorsShape, options: vscode.DecorationRenderOptions) {
 		this.key = TextEditorDecorationType._Keys.nextId();
 		this._proxy = proxy;
-		this._proxy.$registerTextEditorDecorationType(this.key, TypeConverters.fromDecorationRenderOptions(options));
+		this._proxy.$registerTextEditorDecorationType(this.key, options);
 	}
 
 	public dispose(): void {
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts
index 7d2bc3ce463..9aebafecfb2 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import { stringDiff } from 'vs/base/common/diff/diff';
 import * as modes from 'vs/editor/common/modes';
 import * as types from './extHostTypes';
 import { Position as EditorPosition } from 'vs/platform/editor/common/editor';
-import { IPosition, ISelection, IRange, IDecorationOptions, IDecorationRenderOptions, ISingleEditOperation } from 'vs/editor/common/editorCommon';
+import { IPosition, ISelection, IRange, IDecorationOptions, ISingleEditOperation } from 'vs/editor/common/editorCommon';
 import { IWorkspaceSymbol } from 'vs/workbench/parts/search/common/search';
 import * as vscode from 'vscode';
 import URI from 'vs/base/common/uri';
@@ -155,43 +155,6 @@ export function fromRangeOrRangeWithMessage(ranges: vscode.Range[] | vscode.Deco
 	}
 }
 
-export function fromDecorationRenderOptions(options: vscode.DecorationRenderOptions): IDecorationRenderOptions {
-
-	const {
-		after,
-		backgroundColor, before, border, borderColor, borderRadius, borderSpacing, borderStyle, borderWidth,
-		color, cursor,
-		dark,
-		gutterIconPath, gutterIconSize,
-		isWholeLine,
-		letterSpacing, light,
-		outline, outlineColor, outlineStyle, outlineWidth, overviewRulerColor, overviewRulerLane,
-		textDecoration
-	} = options;
-
-	// properly convert the gutterIconPath to an url
-	let gutterIconUrl: string;
-	if (typeof gutterIconPath === 'string') {
-		gutterIconUrl = URI.file(gutterIconPath).toString();
-	} else if (gutterIconPath) {
-		// don't escape scheme-sensitive and there better don't
-		// escape at all, it would break http/data/etc links
-		gutterIconUrl = gutterIconPath.toString(true);
-	}
-
-	return {
-		after,
-		backgroundColor, before, border, borderColor, borderRadius, borderSpacing, borderStyle, borderWidth,
-		color, cursor,
-		dark,
-		gutterIconUrl, gutterIconSize,
-		isWholeLine,
-		letterSpacing, light,
-		outline, outlineColor, outlineStyle, outlineWidth, overviewRulerColor, overviewRulerLane,
-		textDecoration
-	};
-}
-
 export const TextEdit = {
 
 	minimalEditOperations(edits: vscode.TextEdit[], document: vscode.TextDocument, beforeDocumentVersion: number): ISingleEditOperation[] {