diff --git a/gst/gstcaps.c b/gst/gstcaps.c
index 7e10a2a212..fbe9c1813d 100644
--- a/gst/gstcaps.c
+++ b/gst/gstcaps.c
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@
  * Various methods exist to work with the media types such as subtracting
  * or intersecting.
  *
+ * Be aware that the current #GstCaps / #GstStructure serialization into string
+ * has limited support for nested #GstCaps / #GstStructure fields. It can only
+ * support one level of nesting. Using more levels will lead to unexpected
+ * behavior when using serialization features, such as gst_caps_to_string() or
+ * gst_value_serialize() and their counterparts.
+ *
  * Last reviewed on 2011-03-28 (0.11.3)
  */
 
@@ -2129,6 +2135,9 @@ gst_caps_fixate (GstCaps * caps)
  * ]|
  * This prints the caps in human readable form.
  *
+ * The current implementation of serialization will lead to unexpected results
+ * when there are nested #GstCaps / #GstStructure deeper than one level.
+ *
  * Returns: (transfer full): a newly allocated string representing @caps.
  */
 gchar *
@@ -2298,6 +2307,9 @@ gst_caps_from_string_inplace (GstCaps * caps, const gchar * string)
  *
  * Converts @caps from a string representation.
  *
+ * The current implementation of serialization will lead to unexpected results
+ * when there are nested #GstCaps / #GstStructure deeper than one level.
+ *
  * Returns: (transfer full): a newly allocated #GstCaps
  */
 GstCaps *
diff --git a/gst/gststructure.c b/gst/gststructure.c
index f164d163df..6f7f6097da 100644
--- a/gst/gststructure.c
+++ b/gst/gststructure.c
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@
  * Strings in structures must be ASCII or UTF-8 encoded. Other encodings are
  * not allowed. Strings must not be empty either, but may be NULL.
  *
+ * Be aware that the current #GstCaps / #GstStructure serialization into string
+ * has limited support for nested #GstCaps / #GstStructure fields. It can only
+ * support one level of nesting. Using more levels will lead to unexpected
+ * behavior when using serialization features, such as gst_caps_to_string() or
+ * gst_value_serialize() and their counterparts.
+ *
  * Last reviewed on 2012-03-29 (0.11.3)
  */
 
@@ -1817,6 +1823,9 @@ priv_gst_structure_append_to_gstring (const GstStructure * structure,
  * ]|
  * This prints the structure in human readble form.
  *
+ * The current implementation of serialization will lead to unexpected results
+ * when there are nested #GstCaps / #GstStructure deeper than one level.
+ *
  * Free-function: g_free
  *
  * Returns: (transfer full): a pointer to string allocated by g_malloc().
@@ -2315,6 +2324,9 @@ priv_gst_structure_parse_fields (gchar * str, gchar ** end,
  * If end is not NULL, a pointer to the place inside the given string
  * where parsing ended will be returned.
  *
+ * The current implementation of serialization will lead to unexpected results
+ * when there are nested #GstCaps / #GstStructure deeper than one level.
+ *
  * Free-function: gst_structure_free
  *
  * Returns: (transfer full): a new #GstStructure or NULL when the string could
diff --git a/gst/gstvalue.c b/gst/gstvalue.c
index c2885cdee6..9dadb85912 100644
--- a/gst/gstvalue.c
+++ b/gst/gstvalue.c
@@ -1887,8 +1887,7 @@ static gchar *
 gst_value_serialize_caps (const GValue * value)
 {
   GstCaps *caps = g_value_get_boxed (value);
-
-  return gst_caps_to_string (caps);
+  return gst_string_take_and_wrap (gst_caps_to_string (caps));
 }
 
 static gboolean
@@ -1896,7 +1895,17 @@ gst_value_deserialize_caps (GValue * dest, const gchar * s)
 {
   GstCaps *caps;
 
-  caps = gst_caps_from_string (s);
+  if (*s != '"') {
+    caps = gst_caps_from_string (s);
+  } else {
+    gchar *str = gst_string_unwrap (s);
+
+    if (G_UNLIKELY (!str))
+      return FALSE;
+
+    caps = gst_caps_from_string (str);
+    g_free (str);
+  }
 
   if (caps) {
     g_value_take_boxed (dest, caps);
diff --git a/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c b/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c
index babe9148ce..fcb7220b7d 100644
--- a/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c
+++ b/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c
@@ -2379,11 +2379,17 @@ GST_START_TEST (test_serialize_deserialize_caps)
   , value2 = {
   0};
   GstCaps *caps, *caps2;
+  GstCaps *incaps;
   gchar *serialized;
 
+  incaps = gst_caps_new_simple ("caps/internal",
+      "in-field", G_TYPE_INT, 20, "in-field2",
+      G_TYPE_STRING, "some in ternal field", NULL);
   caps = gst_caps_new_simple ("test/caps",
-      "foo", G_TYPE_INT, 10, "bar", G_TYPE_STRING, "test", NULL);
+      "foo", G_TYPE_INT, 10, "bar", G_TYPE_STRING, "test",
+      "int-caps", GST_TYPE_CAPS, incaps, NULL);
   fail_if (GST_CAPS_REFCOUNT_VALUE (caps) != 1);
+  gst_caps_unref (incaps);
 
   /* and assign caps to gvalue */
   g_value_init (&value, GST_TYPE_CAPS);