diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 80b6d5157..89ed7c3f1 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ Eero Vaher
 Eli Boyarski
 Elizaveta Shashkova
 Éloi Rivard
+Emmeline Wetzel
 Endre Galaczi
 Eric Hunsberger
 Eric Liu
@@ -247,6 +248,7 @@ Loic Esteve
 Lukas Bednar
 Luke Murphy
 Maciek Fijalkowski
+Madeline Thai-Tang
 Maho
 Maik Figura
 Mandeep Bhutani
diff --git a/changelog/10704.improvement.rst b/changelog/10704.improvement.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..81978807c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/10704.improvement.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Changed the diff explanation for string comparison assertions when there is a tab in the string to show ``\t`` instead of four spaces.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/assertion/util.py b/src/_pytest/assertion/util.py
index a118befcc..7644dd272 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/assertion/util.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/assertion/util.py
@@ -319,6 +319,10 @@ def _diff_text(left: str, right: str, verbose: int = 0) -> List[str]:
         line.strip("\n")
         for line in ndiff(right.splitlines(keepends), left.splitlines(keepends))
     ]
+    for i in range(len(explanation)):
+        if "?    " not in explanation[i]:  # dont replace diff message tab
+            explanation[i] = explanation[i].replace("+     ", "+ \\t")
+            explanation[i] = explanation[i].replace("    ", "\\t")
     return explanation
 
 
diff --git a/testing/test_error_diffs.py b/testing/test_error_diffs.py
index f290eb167..552e0c1e8 100644
--- a/testing/test_error_diffs.py
+++ b/testing/test_error_diffs.py
@@ -282,6 +282,23 @@ TESTCASES = [
         """,
         id="Compare attrs classes",
     ),
+    pytest.param(
+        """
+        def test_this():
+            result =   '''spam    bacon
+            eggs love'''
+            desired = "spam bacon eggs love"
+            assert result == desired
+        """,
+        """
+        >       assert result == desired
+        E       AssertionError: assert 'spam    bacon\\n    eggs love' == 'spam bacon eggs love'
+        E         - spam bacon eggs love
+        E         + spam\\tbacon
+        E         + \\teggs love
+        """,
+        id="Test tab repr in diff",
+    ),
 ]