diff --git a/src/applications/transactions/xaction/PhabricatorEditEngineDefaultTransaction.php b/src/applications/transactions/xaction/PhabricatorEditEngineDefaultTransaction.php
--- a/src/applications/transactions/xaction/PhabricatorEditEngineDefaultTransaction.php
+++ b/src/applications/transactions/xaction/PhabricatorEditEngineDefaultTransaction.php
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
       return id(new PhutilJSON())->encodeAsList($default_value);
     }
 
-    return id(new PhutilJSON())->encodeAsObject($default_value);
+    return id(new PhutilJSON())->encodeFormatted($default_value);
   }
 
 }