diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 30cd27aa63a00..e09dd28c2312d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ option(USE_HOME_DIR "Use user's home directory for save files."   "ON")
 option(LOCALIZE     "Support for language localizations. Also enable UTF support."   "ON")
 option(LANGUAGES    "Compile localization files for specified languages."   "")
 option(DYNAMIC_LINKING "Use dynamic linking. Or use static to remove MinGW dependency instead."   "ON")
+option(JSON_FORMAT  "Build JSON formatter" "OFF")
 option(CATA_CLANG_TIDY_PLUGIN "Build Cata's custom clang-tidy plugin" "OFF")
 set(CATA_CLANG_TIDY_INCLUDE_DIR "" CACHE STRING "Path to internal clang-tidy headers required for plugin (e.g. ClangTidy.h)")
 set(CATA_CHECK_CLANG_TIDY "" CACHE STRING "Path to check_clang_tidy.py for plugin tests")
@@ -354,6 +355,9 @@ if (NOT MSVC)
     add_subdirectory(src/chkjson)
 endif()
 add_subdirectory(tests)
+if (JSON_FORMAT)
+    add_subdirectory(tools/format)
+endif()
 if (CATA_CLANG_TIDY_PLUGIN)
     add_subdirectory(tools/clang-tidy-plugin)
 endif()
diff --git a/tools/format/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/format/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..465eeaae64bee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/format/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+include(ExternalProject)
+
+add_executable(
+    json_formatter
+    format.cpp
+    ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/json.cpp
+    )
+
+ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DCATA_IN_TOOL)
+
+INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src )
diff --git a/tools/format/format.cpp b/tools/format/format.cpp
index 320c7f2aa3cae..06b1e45446f0a 100644
--- a/tools/format/format.cpp
+++ b/tools/format/format.cpp
@@ -94,8 +94,16 @@ static void format( JsonIn &jsin, JsonOut &jsout, int depth, bool force_wrap )
     } else if( jsin.test_object() ) {
         format_collection( jsin, jsout, depth, write_object, force_wrap );
     } else if( jsin.test_string() ) {
-        std::string str = jsin.get_string();
-        jsout.write( str );
+        // The string may contain escape sequences which we want to keep in the output.
+        const int start_pos = jsin.tell();
+        jsin.get_string();
+        const int end_pos = jsin.tell();
+        std::string str = jsin.substr( start_pos, end_pos - start_pos );
+        str = str.substr( str.find( '"' ) );
+        str = str.substr( 0, str.rfind( '"' ) + 1 );
+        jsout.write_separator();
+        *jsout.get_stream() << str;
+        jsout.set_need_separator();
     } else if( jsin.test_number() ) {
         // Have to introspect into the string to distinguish integers from floats.
         // Otherwise they won't serialize correctly.