diff --git a/picard/script.py b/picard/script.py
index 5ed4b72d2..d6208bf73 100644
--- a/picard/script.py
+++ b/picard/script.py
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ def func_rreplace(parser, text, old, new):
     try:
         return re.sub(old, new, text)
     except re.error:
-        return ""
+        return text
 
 
 def func_rsearch(parser, text, pattern):