diff --git a/bits/34_extprops.js b/bits/34_extprops.js
index 054d9db..3f48266 100644
--- a/bits/34_extprops.js
+++ b/bits/34_extprops.js
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ function parse_ext_props(data, p, opts) {
 	EXT_PROPS.forEach(function(f) {
 		var xml = (data.match(matchtag(f[0]))||[])[1];
 		switch(f[2]) {
-			case "string": p[f[1]] = unescapexml(xml||""); break;
+			case "string": if(xml) p[f[1]] = unescapexml(xml); break;
 			case "bool": p[f[1]] = xml === "true"; break;
 			case "raw":
 				var cur = data.match(new RegExp("<" + f[0] + "[^>]*>([\\s\\S]*?)<\/" + f[0] + ">"));