diff --git a/packages/compiler/src/directive_normalizer.ts b/packages/compiler/src/directive_normalizer.ts
index 2b7ec4b1754c0..ddc998fd5ee63 100644
--- a/packages/compiler/src/directive_normalizer.ts
+++ b/packages/compiler/src/directive_normalizer.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ export class DirectiveNormalizer {
     let normalizedTemplateSync: CompileTemplateMetadata = null;
     let normalizedTemplateAsync: Promise<CompileTemplateMetadata>;
     if (prenormData.template != null) {
+      if (prenormData.templateUrl != null) {
+        throw syntaxError(
+            `'${stringify(prenormData.componentType)}' component cannot define both template and templateUrl`);
+      }
       if (typeof prenormData.template !== 'string') {
         throw syntaxError(
             `The template specified for component ${stringify(prenormData.componentType)} is not a string`);
diff --git a/packages/compiler/test/directive_normalizer_spec.ts b/packages/compiler/test/directive_normalizer_spec.ts
index 58129dc917ce7..fa82051361f4b 100644
--- a/packages/compiler/test/directive_normalizer_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/compiler/test/directive_normalizer_spec.ts
@@ -51,6 +51,16 @@ export function main() {
              templateUrl: <any>{}
            })).toThrowError('The templateUrl specified for component SomeComp is not a string');
          }));
+      it('should throw if both template and templateUrl are defined',
+         inject([DirectiveNormalizer], (normalizer: DirectiveNormalizer) => {
+           expect(() => normalizer.normalizeTemplate({
+             ngModuleType: null,
+             componentType: SomeComp,
+             moduleUrl: SOME_MODULE_URL,
+             template: '',
+             templateUrl: '',
+           })).toThrowError(`'SomeComp' component cannot define both template and templateUrl`);
+         }));
     });
 
     describe('normalizeTemplateSync', () => {