diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 5a05ca935..a7aa46c71 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ http://weechat.org/files/releasenotes/ReleaseNotes-devel.html[release notes]
 * aspell: fix detection of nicks with non-alphanumeric chars
 * guile: disable guile gmp allocator (fix crash on unload of relay plugin)
   (bug #40628)
+* irc: use color code 0x16 (ctrl-V) for reverse video in messages
 * irc: use option irc.network.colors_send instead of irc.network.colors_receive
   when displaying messages sent by commands /away, /me, /msg, /notice, /query
 * irc: fix memory leak when checking the value of ssl_priorities option in
diff --git a/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c b/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c
index 4deaaaa69..08b57f0f9 100644
--- a/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c
+++ b/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.c
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@ irc_color_decode (const char *string, int keep_colors)
                 ptr_string++;
                 break;
             case IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_CHAR:
-            case IRC_COLOR_REVERSE2_CHAR:
                 if (keep_colors)
                 {
                     snprintf (str_to_add, sizeof (str_to_add), "%s",
@@ -301,8 +300,7 @@ irc_color_decode_for_user_entry (const char *string)
                 ptr_string++;
                 break;
             case IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_CHAR:
-            case IRC_COLOR_REVERSE2_CHAR:
-                out[out_pos++] = 0x12;
+                out[out_pos++] = 0x16;
                 ptr_string++;
                 break;
             case IRC_COLOR_ITALIC_CHAR:
@@ -406,16 +404,16 @@ irc_color_encode (const char *string, int keep_colors)
                     out[out_pos++] = IRC_COLOR_RESET_CHAR;
                 ptr_string++;
                 break;
-            case 0x12: /* ^R */
-                if (keep_colors)
-                    out[out_pos++] = IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_CHAR;
-                ptr_string++;
-                break;
             case 0x15: /* ^U */
                 if (keep_colors)
                     out[out_pos++] = IRC_COLOR_UNDERLINE_CHAR;
                 ptr_string++;
                 break;
+            case 0x16: /* ^V */
+                if (keep_colors)
+                    out[out_pos++] = IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_CHAR;
+                ptr_string++;
+                break;
             default:
                 length = weechat_utf8_char_size ((char *)ptr_string);
                 if (length == 0)
diff --git a/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.h b/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.h
index 271872434..c8ef4d606 100644
--- a/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.h
+++ b/src/plugins/irc/irc-color.h
@@ -46,10 +46,8 @@
 #define IRC_COLOR_RESET_STR       "\x0F"
 #define IRC_COLOR_FIXED_CHAR      '\x11'
 #define IRC_COLOR_FIXED_STR       "\x11"
-#define IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_CHAR    '\x12'
-#define IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_STR     "\x12"
-#define IRC_COLOR_REVERSE2_CHAR   '\x16'
-#define IRC_COLOR_REVERSE2_STR    "\x16"
+#define IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_CHAR    '\x16'
+#define IRC_COLOR_REVERSE_STR     "\x16"
 #define IRC_COLOR_ITALIC_CHAR     '\x1D'
 #define IRC_COLOR_ITALIC_STR      "\x1D"
 #define IRC_COLOR_UNDERLINE_CHAR  '\x1F'