diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 6da02b00ad..5467befe3d 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -3148,6 +3148,45 @@ virDomainDefRejectDuplicateControllers(virDomainDefPtr def)
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * virDomainDefRemoveDuplicateMetadata:
+ * @def: Remove duplicate metadata for this def
+ *
+ * This function removes metadata elements in @def that share the namespace.
+ * The first metadata entry of every duplicate namespace is kept.
+ */
+static void
+virDomainDefRemoveDuplicateMetadata(virDomainDefPtr def)
+{
+    xmlNodePtr child;
+    xmlNodePtr next;
+
+    if (!def || !def->metadata)
+        return;
+
+    for (child = def->metadata->children; child; child = child->next) {
+        /* check that every other child of @root doesn't share the namespace of
+         * the current one and delete them possibly */
+        next = child->next;
+        while (next) {
+            xmlNodePtr dupl = NULL;
+
+            if (child->ns && next->ns &&
+                STREQ_NULLABLE((const char *) child->ns->href,
+                               (const char *) next->ns->href))
+                dupl = next;
+
+            next = next->next;
+
+            if (dupl) {
+                xmlUnlinkNode(dupl);
+                xmlFreeNode(dupl);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+
 static int
 virDomainDefPostParseInternal(virDomainDefPtr def,
                               virCapsPtr caps ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
@@ -3316,6 +3355,9 @@ virDomainDefPostParseInternal(virDomainDefPtr def,
         }
     }
 
+    /* clean up possibly duplicated metadata entries */
+    virDomainDefRemoveDuplicateMetadata(def);
+
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-metadata-duplicate.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-metadata-duplicate.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..13fb44963a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-metadata-duplicate.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>219100</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219100</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static' cpuset='1-4,8-20,525'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'/>
+  </devices>
+  <!-- intentional mis-indentation -->
+  <metadata>
+      <app1:foo xmlns:app1="http://foo.org/">fooish</app1:foo>
+      <app3:foo xmlns:app3="http://foo.org/">fooish</app3:foo>
+      <app1:foo xmlns:app1="http://foo.org/">fooish</app1:foo>
+   <app2:bar xmlns:app2="http://bar.com/" maman="baz">barish</app2:bar>
+      <app1:foo xmlns:app1="http://foo.org/">fooish</app1:foo>
+   <app2:bar xmlns:app2="http://bar.com/" maman="baz">barish</app2:bar>
+  </metadata>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-metadata-duplicate.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-metadata-duplicate.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e32fb6795a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-metadata-duplicate.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <metadata>
+    <app1:foo xmlns:app1="http://foo.org/">fooish</app1:foo>
+    <app2:bar xmlns:app2="http://bar.com/" maman="baz">barish</app2:bar>
+  </metadata>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>219100</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219100</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static' cpuset='1-4,8-20,525'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0'/>
+    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 58917c33e8..2bec2b2d07 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -367,6 +367,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_DIFFERENT("usb-ich9-ehci-addr");
 
     DO_TEST_DIFFERENT("metadata");
+    DO_TEST_DIFFERENT("metadata-duplicate");
 
     DO_TEST("tpm-passthrough");
     DO_TEST("pci-bridge");