diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/11645-xfconf-bool.yml b/changelogs/fragments/11645-xfconf-bool.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4947194479
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/11645-xfconf-bool.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - xfconf - representation of boolean properties was not consistent between Python and ``xfconf-query``, leading to broken idempotency (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/11645).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/xfconf.py b/plugins/modules/xfconf.py
index f4e214e2cf..e4212e06be 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/xfconf.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/xfconf.py
@@ -176,6 +176,8 @@ version:
   version_added: 10.2.0
 """
 
+from ansible.module_utils.parsing.convert_bool import boolean
+
 from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.module_utils.module_helper import StateModuleHelper
 from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.module_utils.xfconf import xfconf_runner, get_xfconf_version
 
@@ -238,9 +240,6 @@ class XFConfProperty(StateModuleHelper):
         self.vars.value = None
 
     def state_present(self):
-        # stringify all values - in the CLI they will all be happy strings anyway
-        # and by doing this here the rest of the code can be agnostic to it
-        self.vars.value = [str(v) for v in self.vars.value]
         value_type = self.vars.value_type
 
         values_len = len(self.vars.value)
@@ -253,6 +252,14 @@ class XFConfProperty(StateModuleHelper):
             # or complain if lists' lengths are different
             self.do_raise('Number of elements in "value" and "value_type" must be the same')
 
+        # stringify all values - in the CLI they will all be happy strings anyway
+        # and by doing this here the rest of the code can be agnostic to it
+        # bool values are normalized to 'true'/'false' to match xfconf-query output format
+        self.vars.value = [
+            ("true" if boolean(v) else "false") if vt == "bool" else str(v)
+            for v, vt in zip(self.vars.value, value_type)
+        ]
+
         # calculates if it is an array
         self.vars.is_array = \
             bool(self.vars.force_array) or \
diff --git a/tests/unit/plugins/modules/test_xfconf.yaml b/tests/unit/plugins/modules/test_xfconf.yaml
index 14d59eae3d..aaf937ecf1 100644
--- a/tests/unit/plugins/modules/test_xfconf.yaml
+++ b/tests/unit/plugins/modules/test_xfconf.yaml
@@ -79,6 +79,36 @@ test_cases:
           rc: 0
           out: ''
           err: ''
+  - id: test_property_set_property_bool_same_value
+    input:
+      channel: xfce4-session
+      property: /general/SaveOnExit
+      state: present
+      value_type: bool
+      value: false
+    output:
+      changed: false
+      previous_value: 'false'
+      type: bool
+      value: 'false'
+      version: 4.18.1
+    mocks:
+      run_command:
+        - command: [/testbin/xfconf-query, --version]
+          environ: *env-def
+          rc: 0
+          out: *version-output
+          err: ''
+        - command: [/testbin/xfconf-query, --channel, xfce4-session, --property, /general/SaveOnExit]
+          environ: *env-def
+          rc: 0
+          out: "false\n"
+          err: ''
+        - command: [/testbin/xfconf-query, --channel, xfce4-session, --property, /general/SaveOnExit, --create, --type, bool, --set, 'false']
+          environ: *env-def
+          rc: 0
+          out: ''
+          err: ''
   - id: test_property_set_property_bool_false
     input:
       channel: xfce4-session
@@ -90,7 +120,7 @@ test_cases:
       changed: true
       previous_value: 'true'
       type: bool
-      value: 'False'
+      value: 'false'
       version: 4.18.1
     mocks:
       run_command: