diff --git a/stores/dotenv/store.go b/stores/dotenv/store.go
index f805f5ce3..fc738533b 100644
--- a/stores/dotenv/store.go
+++ b/stores/dotenv/store.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func (store *Store) LoadEncryptedFile(in []byte) (sops.Tree, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	metadata, err := stores.Unflatten(mdMap)
+	metadata, err := stores.UnflattenMetadata(mdMap)
 	if err != nil {
 		return sops.Tree{}, err
 	}
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func (store *Store) LoadPlainFile(in []byte) (sops.TreeBranches, error) {
 // runtime object
 func (store *Store) EmitEncryptedFile(in sops.Tree) ([]byte, error) {
 	metadata := stores.MetadataFromInternal(in.Metadata)
-	mdItems, err := stores.Flatten(metadata)
+	mdItems, err := stores.FlattenMetadata(metadata)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/stores/flatten.go b/stores/flatten.go
index 994325b6b..bf5240e67 100644
--- a/stores/flatten.go
+++ b/stores/flatten.go
@@ -44,10 +44,10 @@ func flattenValue(value interface{}) interface{} {
 	return output
 }
 
-// flattenMap flattens a map with potentially nested maps into a flat
+// Flatten flattens a map with potentially nested maps into a flat
 // map. Only string keys are allowed on both the top-level map and
 // child maps.
-func flattenMap(in map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
+func Flatten(in map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
 	newMap := make(map[string]interface{})
 	for k, v := range in {
 		if flat, ok := flattenValue(v).(map[string]interface{}); ok {
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func flattenMap(in map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
 	return newMap
 }
 
-func Flatten(md Metadata) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
+func FlattenMetadata(md Metadata) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
 	var mdMap map[string]interface{}
 	jsonBytes, err := json.Marshal(md)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -72,14 +72,9 @@ func Flatten(md Metadata) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	flat := flattenMap(mdMap)
-	macOnlyEncryptedToString(flat)
-	for k, v := range flat {
-		if s, ok := v.(string); ok {
-			flat[k] = strings.Replace(s, "\n", "\\n", -1)
-		}
-	}
-
+	flat := Flatten(mdMap)
+	encodeNonStrings(flat)
+	encodeNewLines(flat)
 	return flat, nil
 }
 
@@ -93,7 +88,7 @@ type listToken struct {
 	position int
 }
 
-// tokenize converts a path generated by flattenMap to be used as a key
+// tokenize converts a path generated by Flatten to be used as a key
 // in the flattened map, and converts it to a slice of tokens
 func tokenize(path string) []token {
 	const (
@@ -196,8 +191,8 @@ func unflatten(currentNode interface{}, currentToken, nextToken token, value int
 	return nil
 }
 
-// unflattenMap unflattens a map flattened by flattenMap
-func unflattenMap(in map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
+// Unflatten unflattens a map flattened by Flatten
+func Unflatten(in map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
 	newMap := make(map[string]interface{})
 	for k, v := range in {
 		var current interface{} = newMap
@@ -209,16 +204,11 @@ func unflattenMap(in map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
 	return newMap
 }
 
-// Unflatten unflattens a map flattened by Flatten into Metadata
-func Unflatten(in map[string]interface{}) (Metadata, error) {
-	for k, v := range in {
-		if s, ok := v.(string); ok {
-			in[k] = strings.Replace(s, "\\n", "\n", -1)
-		}
-	}
-
-	m := unflattenMap(in)
-	macOnlyEncryptedToBool(m)
+// UnflattenMetadata unflattens a map flattened by FlattenMetadata into Metadata
+func UnflattenMetadata(in map[string]interface{}) (Metadata, error) {
+	decodeNewLines(in)
+	decodeNonStrings(in)
+	m := Unflatten(in)
 	var md Metadata
 	jsonBytes, err := json.Marshal(m)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -228,7 +218,24 @@ func Unflatten(in map[string]interface{}) (Metadata, error) {
 	return md, err
 }
 
-func macOnlyEncryptedToBool(m map[string]interface{}) {
+func decodeNewLines(m map[string]interface{}) {
+	for k, v := range m {
+		if s, ok := v.(string); ok {
+			m[k] = strings.Replace(s, "\\n", "\n", -1)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func encodeNewLines(m map[string]interface{}) {
+	for k, v := range m {
+		if s, ok := v.(string); ok {
+			m[k] = strings.Replace(s, "\n", "\\n", -1)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// decodeNonStrings will look for known keys that are not strings and decode to the appropriate type
+func decodeNonStrings(m map[string]interface{}) {
 	if v, ok := m["mac_only_encrypted"]; ok {
 		m["mac_only_encrypted"] = false
 		if v == "true" {
@@ -237,7 +244,8 @@ func macOnlyEncryptedToBool(m map[string]interface{}) {
 	}
 }
 
-func macOnlyEncryptedToString(m map[string]interface{}) {
+// encodeNonStrings will look for known keys that are not strings and will encode it to strings
+func encodeNonStrings(m map[string]interface{}) {
 	if v, found := m["mac_only_encrypted"]; found {
 		if vBool, ok := v.(bool); ok {
 			m["mac_only_encrypted"] = "false"
diff --git a/stores/flatten_test.go b/stores/flatten_test.go
index 7b87f4cab..40d042ba3 100644
--- a/stores/flatten_test.go
+++ b/stores/flatten_test.go
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ func TestFlat(t *testing.T) {
 	expected := map[string]interface{}{
 		"foo": "bar",
 	}
-	flattened := flattenMap(input)
+	flattened := Flatten(input)
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, flattened)
-	unflattened := unflattenMap(flattened)
+	unflattened := Unflatten(flattened)
 	assert.Equal(t, input, unflattened)
 }
 
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ func TestMap(t *testing.T) {
 		"foo" + mapSeparator + "bar": 0,
 		"foo" + mapSeparator + "baz": 0,
 	}
-	flattened := flattenMap(input)
+	flattened := Flatten(input)
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, flattened)
-	unflattened := unflattenMap(flattened)
+	unflattened := Unflatten(flattened)
 	assert.Equal(t, input, unflattened)
 }
 
@@ -47,9 +47,9 @@ func TestFlattenMapMoreNesting(t *testing.T) {
 	expected := map[string]interface{}{
 		"foo" + mapSeparator + "bar" + mapSeparator + "baz": 0,
 	}
-	flattened := flattenMap(input)
+	flattened := Flatten(input)
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, flattened)
-	unflattened := unflattenMap(flattened)
+	unflattened := Unflatten(flattened)
 	assert.Equal(t, input, unflattened)
 }
 
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ func TestFlattenList(t *testing.T) {
 	expected := map[string]interface{}{
 		"foo" + listSeparator + "0": 0,
 	}
-	flattened := flattenMap(input)
+	flattened := Flatten(input)
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, flattened)
-	unflattened := unflattenMap(flattened)
+	unflattened := Unflatten(flattened)
 	assert.Equal(t, input, unflattened)
 }
 
@@ -79,13 +79,13 @@ func TestFlattenListWithMap(t *testing.T) {
 	expected := map[string]interface{}{
 		"foo" + listSeparator + "0" + mapSeparator + "bar": 0,
 	}
-	flattened := flattenMap(input)
+	flattened := Flatten(input)
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, flattened)
-	unflattened := unflattenMap(flattened)
+	unflattened := Unflatten(flattened)
 	assert.Equal(t, input, unflattened)
 }
 
-func TestFlattenMap(t *testing.T) {
+func TestFlatten(t *testing.T) {
 	input := map[string]interface{}{
 		"foo": "bar",
 		"baz": map[string]interface{}{
@@ -106,9 +106,9 @@ func TestFlattenMap(t *testing.T) {
 		"qux" + listSeparator + "1":                         1,
 		"qux" + listSeparator + "2":                         2,
 	}
-	flattened := flattenMap(input)
+	flattened := Flatten(input)
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, flattened)
-	unflattened := unflattenMap(flattened)
+	unflattened := Unflatten(flattened)
 	assert.Equal(t, input, unflattened)
 }
 
@@ -140,38 +140,7 @@ func TestTokenizeNested(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, tokenized)
 }
 
-func TestMacOnlyEncryptedToBool(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		input map[string]interface{}
-		want  map[string]interface{}
-	}{
-		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "false"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": false}},
-		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "true"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": true}},
-		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "something-else"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": false}},
-	}
-
-	for _, tt := range tests {
-		macOnlyEncryptedToBool(tt.input)
-		assert.Equal(t, tt.want, tt.input)
-	}
-}
-
-func TestMacOnlyEncryptedToString(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		input map[string]interface{}
-		want  map[string]interface{}
-	}{
-		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": false}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "false"}},
-		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": true}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "true"}},
-	}
-
-	for _, tt := range tests {
-		macOnlyEncryptedToString(tt.input)
-		assert.Equal(t, tt.want, tt.input)
-	}
-}
-
-func TestFlatten(t *testing.T) {
+func TestFlattenMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		input Metadata
 		want  map[string]interface{}
@@ -183,7 +152,7 @@ func TestFlatten(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
-		got, err := Flatten(tt.input)
+		got, err := FlattenMetadata(tt.input)
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
 		for k, v := range tt.want {
 			assert.Equal(t, v, got[k])
@@ -191,7 +160,7 @@ func TestFlatten(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestFlattenToUnflatten(t *testing.T) {
+func TestFlattenMetadataToUnflattenMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		input Metadata
 	}{
@@ -203,10 +172,75 @@ func TestFlattenToUnflatten(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
-		flat, err := Flatten(tt.input)
+		flat, err := FlattenMetadata(tt.input)
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
-		md, err := Unflatten(flat)
+		md, err := UnflattenMetadata(flat)
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
 		assert.Equal(t, tt.input, md)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestDecodeNewLines(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		input map[string]interface{}
+		want  map[string]interface{}
+	}{
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\\nline2"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\nline2"}},
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\\n\\n\\nline2\\n\\nline3"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\n\n\nline2\n\nline3"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		decodeNewLines(tt.input)
+		for k, v := range tt.want {
+			assert.Equal(t, v, tt.input[k])
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEncodeNewLines(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		input map[string]interface{}
+		want  map[string]interface{}
+	}{
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\nline2"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\\nline2"}},
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\n\n\nline2\n\nline3"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac": "line1\\n\\n\\nline2\\n\\nline3"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		encodeNewLines(tt.input)
+		for k, v := range tt.want {
+			assert.Equal(t, v, tt.input[k])
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDecodeNonStrings(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		input map[string]interface{}
+		want  map[string]interface{}
+	}{
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "false"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": false}},
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "true"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": true}},
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "something-else"}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": false}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		decodeNonStrings(tt.input)
+		assert.Equal(t, tt.want, tt.input)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEncodeNonStrings(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		input map[string]interface{}
+		want  map[string]interface{}
+	}{
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": false}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "false"}},
+		{map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": true}, map[string]interface{}{"mac_only_encrypted": "true"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		encodeNonStrings(tt.input)
+		assert.Equal(t, tt.want, tt.input)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/stores/ini/store.go b/stores/ini/store.go
index f7a571f6d..c100e3be8 100644
--- a/stores/ini/store.go
+++ b/stores/ini/store.go
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func (store *Store) iniSectionToMetadata(sopsSection *ini.Section) (stores.Metad
 	for k, v := range sopsSection.KeysHash() {
 		metadataHash[k] = v
 	}
-	return stores.Unflatten(metadataHash)
+	return stores.UnflattenMetadata(metadataHash)
 }
 
 // LoadPlainFile loads a plaintext INI file's bytes onto a sops.TreeBranches runtime object
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ func (store *Store) EmitEncryptedFile(in sops.Tree) ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 func (store *Store) encodeMetadataToIniBranch(md stores.Metadata) (sops.TreeBranch, error) {
-	flat, err := stores.Flatten(md)
+	flat, err := stores.FlattenMetadata(md)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}