diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 853f206cd3..0e4a83d27f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -76,8 +76,6 @@ else()
 	set(datadir ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/dolphin-emu CACHE PATH "datadir")
 	add_definitions(-DDATA_DIR="${datadir}/")
 endif()
-set(userdir ".dolphin-emu" CACHE STRING "User directory")
-add_definitions(-DUSER_DIR="${userdir}")
 
 # Set where the binary files will be built.  The program will not execute from
 # here.  You must run "make install" to install these to the proper location
diff --git a/Source/Core/Common/CommonPaths.h b/Source/Core/Common/CommonPaths.h
index 41cb65c24c..9c0fe7eab5 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Common/CommonPaths.h
+++ b/Source/Core/Common/CommonPaths.h
@@ -24,11 +24,7 @@
 	#define DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR "/sdcard/dolphin-emu"
 #else
 	#define USERDATA_DIR "user"
-	#ifdef USER_DIR
-		#define DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR USER_DIR
-	#else
-		#define DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR ".dolphin"
-	#endif
+	#define DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR "dolphin-emu"
 #endif
 
 // Shared data dirs (Sys and shared User for Linux)
diff --git a/Source/Core/UICommon/UICommon.cpp b/Source/Core/UICommon/UICommon.cpp
index b623043220..5ba825f5e2 100644
--- a/Source/Core/UICommon/UICommon.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/UICommon/UICommon.cpp
@@ -137,11 +137,50 @@ void SetUserDirectory(const std::string& custom_path)
 		user_path += DIR_SEP;
 #else
 	if (File::Exists(ROOT_DIR DIR_SEP USERDATA_DIR))
+	{
 		user_path = ROOT_DIR DIR_SEP USERDATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
+	}
 	else
-		user_path = std::string(getenv("HOME") ?
-			getenv("HOME") : getenv("PWD") ?
-			getenv("PWD") : "") + DIR_SEP DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
+	{
+		const char* home = getenv("HOME");
+		if (!home)
+			home = getenv("PWD");
+		if (!home)
+			home = "";
+		std::string home_path = std::string(home) + DIR_SEP;
+
+#if defined(__APPLE__) || defined(ANDROID)
+		user_path = home_path + DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
+#else
+		// We are on a non-Apple and non-Android POSIX system, let's respect XDG basedir.
+		// The only case we don't is when there is an existing ~/.dolphin-emu directory.
+		// See http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
+
+		user_path = home_path + "." DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
+		if (!File::Exists(user_path))
+		{
+			const char* data_home = getenv("XDG_DATA_HOME");
+			std::string data_path = std::string(data_home && data_home[0] == '/' ?
+				data_home :
+				(home_path + ".local" DIR_SEP "share")) + DIR_SEP DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
+
+			const char* config_home = getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME");
+			std::string config_path = std::string(config_home && config_home[0] == '/' ?
+				config_home :
+				(home_path + ".config")) + DIR_SEP DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
+
+			const char* cache_home = getenv("XDG_CACHE_HOME");
+			std::string cache_path = std::string(cache_home && cache_home[0] == '/' ?
+				cache_home :
+				(home_path + ".cache")) + DIR_SEP DOLPHIN_DATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
+
+			File::SetUserPath(D_USER_IDX, data_path);
+			File::SetUserPath(D_CONFIG_IDX, config_path);
+			File::SetUserPath(D_CACHE_IDX, cache_path);
+			return;
+		}
+#endif
+	}
 #endif
 	File::SetUserPath(D_USER_IDX, user_path);
 }