diff --git a/thunar/thunar-file.c b/thunar/thunar-file.c
index 9e5393c..65d1eba 100644
--- a/thunar/thunar-file.c
+++ b/thunar/thunar-file.c
@@ -2609,14 +2609,33 @@ thunar_file_get_emblem_names (ThunarFile *file)
   /* check if we need to load the emblems_list from the metafile */
   if (G_UNLIKELY ((file->flags & THUNAR_FILE_OWNS_EMBLEM_NAMES) == 0))
     {
-      emblem_string = thunar_file_get_metadata (file, THUNAR_METAFILE_KEY_EMBLEMS, "");
-      if (G_UNLIKELY (*emblem_string != '\0'))
+      /* read first the gio metadata */
+      emblem_names = g_strdupv (g_file_info_get_attribute_stringv (file->info,
+                                                                   "metadata::emblems"));
+      if (G_UNLIKELY (emblem_names != NULL))
         {
-          emblem_names = g_strsplit (emblem_string, ";", -1);
           g_object_set_qdata_full (G_OBJECT (file), thunar_file_emblem_names_quark,
                                    emblem_names, (GDestroyNotify) g_strfreev);
         }
-      file->flags |= THUNAR_FILE_OWNS_EMBLEM_NAMES;
+      else
+        {
+          /* if there's no gio emblem, try the deprecated tdb file */
+          emblem_string = thunar_file_get_metadata (file, THUNAR_METAFILE_KEY_EMBLEMS, "");
+          if (G_UNLIKELY (*emblem_string != '\0'))
+            {
+              emblem_names = g_strsplit (emblem_string, ";", -1);
+              g_object_set_qdata_full (G_OBJECT (file), thunar_file_emblem_names_quark,
+                                       emblem_names, (GDestroyNotify) g_strfreev);
+              /* and migrate the emblems to gio */
+              g_file_set_attribute (file->gfile, "metadata::emblems",
+                                    G_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_STRINGV,
+                                    &emblem_names[0],
+                                    G_FILE_QUERY_INFO_NONE,
+                                    NULL, NULL);
+              thunar_file_set_metadata (file, THUNAR_METAFILE_KEY_EMBLEMS, "", "");
+            }
+          file->flags |= THUNAR_FILE_OWNS_EMBLEM_NAMES;
+        }
     }
 
   /* determine the custom emblems */
@@ -2674,7 +2693,6 @@ thunar_file_set_emblem_names (ThunarFile *file,
 {
   GList  *lp;
   gchar **emblems;
-  gchar  *emblems_string;
   gint    n;
 
   _thunar_return_if_fail (THUNAR_IS_FILE (file));
@@ -2702,9 +2720,11 @@ thunar_file_set_emblem_names (ThunarFile *file,
                            emblems, (GDestroyNotify) g_strfreev);
 
   /* store the emblem list in the file's metadata */
-  emblems_string = g_strjoinv (";", emblems);
-  thunar_file_set_metadata (file, THUNAR_METAFILE_KEY_EMBLEMS, emblems_string, "");
-  g_free (emblems_string);
+  g_file_set_attribute (file->gfile, "metadata::emblems",
+                        G_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE_STRINGV,
+                        &emblems[0],
+                        G_FILE_QUERY_INFO_NONE,
+                        NULL, NULL);
 
   /* tell everybody that we have changed */
   thunar_file_changed (file);
diff --git a/thunarx/thunarx-file-info.h b/thunarx/thunarx-file-info.h
index 13a7001..551c443 100644
--- a/thunarx/thunarx-file-info.h
+++ b/thunarx/thunarx-file-info.h
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS;
 #define THUNARX_FILE_INFO_NAMESPACE \
   "access::*," \
   "id::*," \
+  "metadata::*," \
   "mountable::*," \
   "preview::*," \
   "standard::*," \