diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index ad57ebb57..fbfea2b75 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Also, check your change needs any tooling updates.  For example, the CDN urls re
 ### 4. Submit a Pull Request 
 
 * Run `./build full` locally after commit but before creation of Pull Request.  You may start a Pull Request if this does not succeed, but the PR will not be accepted without additional changes.
-* Include description of changea. Include examples of input and expected output if possible. 
+* Include description of changes. Include examples of input and expected output if possible. 
 * Pull requests must pass build checks on all platforms before being accepted. We use travis-ci and appveyor to run tests on Linux and Windows, across multiple versions of Node.js and Python.
 
 # Folders
diff --git a/js/lib/beautify-css.js b/js/lib/beautify-css.js
index b18d61df9..2c5e081a1 100644
--- a/js/lib/beautify-css.js
+++ b/js/lib/beautify-css.js
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
     The options are (default in brackets):
         indent_size (4)                         — indentation size,
         indent_char (space)                     — character to indent with,
+        preserve_newlines (default false)       - whether existing line breaks should be preserved,
         selector_separator_newline (true)       - separate selectors with newline or
                                                   not (e.g. "a,\nbr" or "a, br")
         end_with_newline (false)                - end with a newline
@@ -98,6 +99,7 @@
 
         var indentSize = options.indent_size ? parseInt(options.indent_size, 10) : 4;
         var indentCharacter = options.indent_char || ' ';
+        var preserve_newlines = (options.preserve_newlines === undefined) ? false : options.preserve_newlines;
         var selectorSeparatorNewline = (options.selector_separator_newline === undefined) ? true : options.selector_separator_newline;
         var end_with_newline = (options.end_with_newline === undefined) ? false : options.end_with_newline;
         var newline_between_rules = (options.newline_between_rules === undefined) ? true : options.newline_between_rules;
@@ -234,6 +236,16 @@
             return false;
         }
 
+        function removeWhiteSpaceOnEmptyLines(input) {
+            var output = input.split('\n');
+            for (var i = 0; i < output.length; i++) {
+                if (output[i].trim().length === 0) {
+                    output[i] = '';
+                }
+            }
+            return output.join('\n');
+        }
+
         // printer
         var basebaseIndentString = source_text.match(/^[\t ]*/)[0];
         var singleIndent = new Array(indentSize + 1).join(indentCharacter);
@@ -311,6 +323,8 @@
             var whitespace = skipWhitespace();
             var isAfterSpace = whitespace !== '';
             var isAfterNewline = whitespace.indexOf('\n') !== -1;
+            var newLines = whitespace.replace(/ /g, '').replace(/\t/g, '');
+            var isAfterEmptyline = newLines.indexOf('\n\n') !== -1;
             last_top_ch = top_ch;
             top_ch = ch;
 
@@ -490,7 +504,15 @@
                 ch = '=';
                 output.push(ch);
             } else {
-                print.preserveSingleSpace();
+                if (isAfterEmptyline && preserve_newlines) {
+                    var newLineCount = newLines.split('\n').length - 2;
+                    for (var i = 0; i < newLineCount; i++) {
+                        print.newLine(true);
+                    }
+                    eatWhitespace();
+                } else {
+                    print.preserveSingleSpace();
+                }
                 output.push(ch);
             }
         }
@@ -503,6 +525,10 @@
 
         sweetCode += output.join('').replace(/[\r\n\t ]+$/, '');
 
+        if (preserve_newlines) {
+            sweetCode = removeWhiteSpaceOnEmptyLines(sweetCode);
+        }
+
         // establish end_with_newline
         if (end_with_newline) {
             sweetCode += '\n';
diff --git a/js/lib/cli.js b/js/lib/cli.js
index f959c16d2..48fc55df5 100755
--- a/js/lib/cli.js
+++ b/js/lib/cli.js
@@ -360,8 +360,9 @@ function usage(err) {
             msg.push('  -E, --extra_liners                List of tags (defaults to [head,body,/html] that should have an extra newline');
             break;
         case "css":
-            msg.push('  -L, --selector-separator-newline        Add a newline between multiple selectors.');
-            msg.push('  -N, --newline-between-rules             Add a newline between CSS rules.');
+            msg.push('  -L, --selector-separator-newline  Add a newline between multiple selectors.');
+            msg.push('  -N, --newline-between-rules       Add a newline between CSS rules.');
+            msg.push('  -p, --preserve-newlines           Preserve line-breaks');
     }
 
     if (err) {
diff --git a/js/test/generated/beautify-css-tests.js b/js/test/generated/beautify-css-tests.js
index 608ce9f26..7b6d95611 100644
--- a/js/test/generated/beautify-css-tests.js
+++ b/js/test/generated/beautify-css-tests.js
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ function run_css_tests(test_obj, Urlencoded, js_beautify, html_beautify, css_bea
     default_opts.end_with_newline = false;
     default_opts.newline_between_rules = false;
     default_opts.space_around_combinator = false;
+    default_opts.preserve_newlines = false;
     default_opts.space_around_selector_separator = false;
 
     function reset_options()
@@ -324,6 +325,27 @@ function run_css_tests(test_obj, Urlencoded, js_beautify, html_beautify, css_bea
         t('a:first-child,a:first-child{color:red;div:first-child,div:hover{color:black;}}', 'a:first-child,\na:first-child {\n\tcolor: red;\n\tdiv:first-child,\n\tdiv:hover {\n\t\tcolor: black;\n\t}\n}');
 
 
+        //============================================================
+        // Preserve Newlines - (separator_input = "\n\n", separator_output = "\n\n")
+        reset_options();
+        opts.preserve_newlines = true;
+        t('.div {}\n\n.span {}');
+        t('#bla, #foo{\n\tcolor:black;\n\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}', '#bla,\n#foo {\n\tcolor: black;\n\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}');
+
+        // Preserve Newlines - (separator_input = "\n\n", separator_output = "\n")
+        reset_options();
+        opts.preserve_newlines = false;
+        t('.div {}\n\n.span {}', '.div {}\n.span {}');
+        t('#bla, #foo{\n\tcolor:black;\n\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}', '#bla,\n#foo {\n\tcolor: black;\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}');
+
+
+        //============================================================
+        // Preserve Newlines and add tabs
+        reset_options();
+        opts.preserve_newlines = true;
+        t('.tool-tip {\n\tposition: relative;\n\n\t\t\n\t.tool-tip-content {\n\t\t&>* {\n\t\t\tmargin-top: 0;\n\t\t}\n\t\t\n\n\t\t.mixin-box-shadow(.2rem .2rem .5rem rgba(0, 0, 0, .15));\n\t\tpadding: 1rem;\n\t\tposition: absolute;\n\t\tz-index: 10;\n\t}\n}', '.tool-tip {\n\tposition: relative;\n\n\n\t.tool-tip-content {\n\t\t&>* {\n\t\t\tmargin-top: 0;\n\t\t}\n\n\n\t\t.mixin-box-shadow(.2rem .2rem .5rem rgba(0, 0, 0, .15));\n\t\tpadding: 1rem;\n\t\tposition: absolute;\n\t\tz-index: 10;\n\t}\n}');
+
+
         //============================================================
         // Newline Between Rules - (separator = "\n")
         reset_options();
diff --git a/python/cssbeautifier/__init__.py b/python/cssbeautifier/__init__.py
index 56c05ff4f..0482b958c 100644
--- a/python/cssbeautifier/__init__.py
+++ b/python/cssbeautifier/__init__.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ def __init__(self):
         self.indent_size = 4
         self.indent_char = ' '
         self.indent_with_tabs = False
+        self.preserve_newlines = False
         self.selector_separator_newline = True
         self.end_with_newline = False
         self.newline_between_rules = True
@@ -65,11 +66,12 @@ def __repr__(self):
 """indent_size = %d
 indent_char = [%s]
 indent_with_tabs = [%s]
+preserve_newlines = [%s]
 separate_selectors_newline = [%s]
 end_with_newline = [%s]
 newline_between_rules = [%s]
 space_around_combinator = [%s]
-""" % (self.indent_size, self.indent_char, self.indent_with_tabs,
+""" % (self.indent_size, self.indent_char, self.indent_with_tabs, self.preserve_newlines,
        self.selector_separator_newline, self.end_with_newline, self.newline_between_rules,
        self.space_around_combinator)
 
@@ -329,6 +331,13 @@ def foundNestedPseudoClass(self):
 
         return False
 
+    def removeWhiteSpaceOnEmptyLines(self, input):
+        output = input.split('\n')
+        for i in range(len(output)):
+            if len(output[i].strip()) == 0:
+                output[i] = ''
+
+        return '\n'.join(output)
 
     def beautify(self):
         m = re.search("^[\t ]*", self.source_text)
@@ -346,6 +355,8 @@ def beautify(self):
             whitespace = self.skipWhitespace()
             isAfterSpace = whitespace != ''
             isAfterNewline = '\n' in whitespace
+            newLines = whitespace.replace(" ", "").replace("\t", "")
+            isAfterEmptyline = '\n\n' in newLines
             last_top_ch = top_ch
             top_ch = self.ch
 
@@ -510,11 +521,21 @@ def beautify(self):
                 self.ch = '='
                 printer.push(self.ch)
             else:
-                printer.preserveSingleSpace(isAfterSpace)
+                if isAfterEmptyline and self.opts.preserve_newlines:
+                    newLineCount = range(len(newLines.split('\n')) - 2)
+                    for i in newLineCount:
+                        printer.newLine(True)
+
+                    self.eatWhitespace()
+                else:
+                    printer.preserveSingleSpace(isAfterSpace)
                 printer.push(self.ch)
 
         sweet_code = re.sub('[\r\n\t ]+$', '', printer.result())
 
+        if self.opts.preserve_newlines:
+            sweet_code = self.removeWhiteSpaceOnEmptyLines(sweet_code)
+
         # establish end_with_newline
         if self.opts.end_with_newline:
             sweet_code += '\n'
diff --git a/python/cssbeautifier/tests/generated/tests.py b/python/cssbeautifier/tests/generated/tests.py
index bc7286048..2d7224ebf 100644
--- a/python/cssbeautifier/tests/generated/tests.py
+++ b/python/cssbeautifier/tests/generated/tests.py
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
         default_options.end_with_newline = false
         default_options.newline_between_rules = false
         default_options.space_around_combinator = false
+        default_options.preserve_newlines = false
         default_options.space_around_selector_separator = false
 
         cls.default_options = default_options
@@ -282,6 +283,27 @@ def testGenerated(self):
         t('a:first-child,a:first-child{color:red;div:first-child,div:hover{color:black;}}', 'a:first-child,\na:first-child {\n\tcolor: red;\n\tdiv:first-child,\n\tdiv:hover {\n\t\tcolor: black;\n\t}\n}')
 
 
+        #============================================================
+        # Preserve Newlines - (separator_input = "\n\n", separator_output = "\n\n")
+        self.reset_options();
+        self.options.preserve_newlines = true
+        t('.div {}\n\n.span {}')
+        t('#bla, #foo{\n\tcolor:black;\n\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}', '#bla,\n#foo {\n\tcolor: black;\n\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}')
+
+        # Preserve Newlines - (separator_input = "\n\n", separator_output = "\n")
+        self.reset_options();
+        self.options.preserve_newlines = false
+        t('.div {}\n\n.span {}', '.div {}\n.span {}')
+        t('#bla, #foo{\n\tcolor:black;\n\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}', '#bla,\n#foo {\n\tcolor: black;\n\tfont-size: 12px;\n}')
+
+
+        #============================================================
+        # Preserve Newlines and add tabs
+        self.reset_options();
+        self.options.preserve_newlines = true
+        t('.tool-tip {\n\tposition: relative;\n\n\t\t\n\t.tool-tip-content {\n\t\t&>* {\n\t\t\tmargin-top: 0;\n\t\t}\n\t\t\n\n\t\t.mixin-box-shadow(.2rem .2rem .5rem rgba(0, 0, 0, .15));\n\t\tpadding: 1rem;\n\t\tposition: absolute;\n\t\tz-index: 10;\n\t}\n}', '.tool-tip {\n\tposition: relative;\n\n\n\t.tool-tip-content {\n\t\t&>* {\n\t\t\tmargin-top: 0;\n\t\t}\n\n\n\t\t.mixin-box-shadow(.2rem .2rem .5rem rgba(0, 0, 0, .15));\n\t\tpadding: 1rem;\n\t\tposition: absolute;\n\t\tz-index: 10;\n\t}\n}')
+
+
         #============================================================
         # Newline Between Rules - (separator = "\n")
         self.reset_options();
diff --git a/test/data/css/tests.js b/test/data/css/tests.js
index 9aa4a2f71..5759d3f65 100644
--- a/test/data/css/tests.js
+++ b/test/data/css/tests.js
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ exports.test_data = {
         { name: "end_with_newline", value: "false" },
         { name: "newline_between_rules", value: "false" },
         { name: "space_around_combinator", value: "false" },
+        { name: "preserve_newlines", value: "false" },
         // deprecated
         { name: "space_around_selector_separator", value: "false" }
     ],
@@ -208,6 +209,34 @@ exports.test_data = {
                 output: 'a:first-child,{{separator}}a:first-child {\n\tcolor: red;\n\tdiv:first-child,{{separator1}}div:hover {\n\t\tcolor: black;\n\t}\n}'
             }
         ]
+    }, {
+        name: "Preserve Newlines",
+        description: "",
+        matrix: [{
+            options: [
+                { name: "preserve_newlines", value: "true" }
+            ],
+            separator_input: '\\n\\n',
+            separator_output: '\\n\\n',
+        }, {
+            options: [
+                { name: "preserve_newlines", value: "false" }
+            ],
+            separator_input: '\\n\\n',
+            separator_output: '\\n',
+        }],
+        tests: [
+            { input: '.div {}{{separator_input}}.span {}', output: '.div {}{{separator_output}}.span {}' },
+            { input: '#bla, #foo{\n\tcolor:black;{{separator_input}}\tfont-size: 12px;\n}', output: '#bla,\n#foo {\n\tcolor: black;{{separator_output}}\tfont-size: 12px;\n}' }
+        ],
+    }, {
+        name: "Preserve Newlines and add tabs",
+        options: [{ name: "preserve_newlines", value: "true" }],
+        description: "",
+        tests: [{
+            input: '.tool-tip {\n\tposition: relative;\n\n\t\t\n\t.tool-tip-content {\n\t\t&>* {\n\t\t\tmargin-top: 0;\n\t\t}\n\t\t\n\n\t\t.mixin-box-shadow(.2rem .2rem .5rem rgba(0, 0, 0, .15));\n\t\tpadding: 1rem;\n\t\tposition: absolute;\n\t\tz-index: 10;\n\t}\n}',
+            output: '.tool-tip {\n\tposition: relative;\n\n\n\t.tool-tip-content {\n\t\t&>* {\n\t\t\tmargin-top: 0;\n\t\t}\n\\n\\n\t\t.mixin-box-shadow(.2rem .2rem .5rem rgba(0, 0, 0, .15));\n\t\tpadding: 1rem;\n\t\tposition: absolute;\n\t\tz-index: 10;\n\t}\n}'
+        }],
     }, {
         name: "Newline Between Rules",
         description: "",