diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/angular-cli-files/models/webpack-configs/common.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/angular-cli-files/models/webpack-configs/common.ts
index 7353eea88e26..600ecf2f48f3 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/angular-cli-files/models/webpack-configs/common.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/angular-cli-files/models/webpack-configs/common.ts
@@ -380,7 +380,8 @@ export function getCommonConfig(wco: WebpackConfigOptions): Configuration {
       safari10: true,
       output: {
         ecma: terserEcma,
-        comments: false,
+        // default behavior (undefined value) is to keep only important comments (licenses, etc.)
+        comments: !buildOptions.extractLicenses && undefined,
         webkit: true,
       },
       // On server, we don't want to compress anything. We still set the ngDevMode = false for it
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/test/browser/bundle-budgets_spec_large.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/test/browser/bundle-budgets_spec_large.ts
index 2ce1a5691e41..61a723c93ba7 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/test/browser/bundle-budgets_spec_large.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/test/browser/bundle-budgets_spec_large.ts
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ describe('Browser Builder bundle budgets', () => {
     it(`when 'bundle' budget`, async () => {
       const overrides = {
         optimization: true,
+        extractLicenses: true,
         budgets: [{ type: 'bundle', name: 'main', maximumError: '3Kb' }],
       };
 
diff --git a/tests/legacy-cli/e2e/tests/build/extract-licenses.ts b/tests/legacy-cli/e2e/tests/build/extract-licenses.ts
index 73ec571dc25b..b809def92767 100644
--- a/tests/legacy-cli/e2e/tests/build/extract-licenses.ts
+++ b/tests/legacy-cli/e2e/tests/build/extract-licenses.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,19 @@
-import {join} from 'path';
-import {expectFileToExist} from '../../utils/fs';
-import {expectToFail} from '../../utils/utils';
-import {ng} from '../../utils/process';
+import { expectFileToExist, expectFileToMatch } from '../../utils/fs';
+import { ng } from '../../utils/process';
+import { expectToFail } from '../../utils/utils';
 
-export default function() {
-  // TODO(architect): Delete this test. It is now in devkit/build-angular.
+export default async function() {
+  // Licenses should be left intact if extraction is disabled
+  await ng('build', '--prod', '--extract-licenses=false', '--output-hashing=none');
 
-  return ng('build', '--prod', '--extract-licenses=false')
-    .then(() => expectFileToExist(join(process.cwd(), 'dist')))
-    .then(() => expectToFail(() => expectFileToExist('dist/test-project/3rdpartylicenses.txt')));
+  await expectToFail(() => expectFileToExist('dist/test-project/3rdpartylicenses.txt'));
+  await expectFileToMatch('dist/test-project/main-es2015.js', '@license');
+  await expectFileToMatch('dist/test-project/main-es5.js', '@license');
+
+  // Licenses should be removed if extraction is enabled
+  await ng('build', '--prod', '--extract-licenses', '--output-hashing=none');
+
+  await expectFileToExist('dist/test-project/3rdpartylicenses.txt');
+  await expectToFail(() => expectFileToMatch('dist/test-project/main-es2015.js', '@license'));
+  await expectToFail(() => expectFileToMatch('dist/test-project/main-es5.js', '@license'));
 }