diff --git a/django/core/template/defaulttags.py b/django/core/template/defaulttags.py
index 518498664d..daad1c2dfa 100644
--- a/django/core/template/defaulttags.py
+++ b/django/core/template/defaulttags.py
@@ -249,6 +249,14 @@ class NowNode(Node):
         df = DateFormat(datetime.now())
         return df.format(self.format_string)
 
+class SpacelessNode(Node):
+    def __init__(self, nodelist):
+        self.nodelist = nodelist
+
+    def render(self, context):
+        from django.utils.html import strip_spaces_between_tags
+        return strip_spaces_between_tags(self.nodelist.render(context).strip())
+
 class TemplateTagNode(Node):
     mapping = {'openblock': BLOCK_TAG_START,
                'closeblock': BLOCK_TAG_END,
@@ -726,6 +734,12 @@ def regroup(parser, token):
     return RegroupNode(target, expression, var_name)
 regroup = register.tag(regroup)
 
+def spaceless(parser, token):
+    nodelist = parser.parse(('endspaceless',))
+    parser.delete_first_token()
+    return SpacelessNode(nodelist)
+spaceless = register.tag(spaceless)
+
 #@register.tag
 def templatetag(parser, token):
     """
diff --git a/django/utils/html.py b/django/utils/html.py
index 730744c9e1..d89067106e 100644
--- a/django/utils/html.py
+++ b/django/utils/html.py
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ def strip_tags(value):
     "Returns the given HTML with all tags stripped"
     return re.sub(r'<[^>]*?>', '', value)
 
+def strip_spaces_between_tags(value):
+    "Returns the given HTML with spaces between tags stripped"
+    return re.sub(r'>\s+<', '><', value)
+
 def strip_entities(value):
     "Returns the given HTML with all entities (&something;) stripped"
     return re.sub(r'&(?:\w+|#\d);', '', value)
diff --git a/docs/templates.txt b/docs/templates.txt
index d4bb468bd5..0fbe1f6ae8 100644
--- a/docs/templates.txt
+++ b/docs/templates.txt
@@ -663,6 +663,34 @@ i.e.::
 
     {% regroup people|dictsort:"gender" by gender as grouped %}
 
+spaceless
+~~~~~~~~~
+
+**New in Django development version.**
+
+Strips whitespace between HTML tags. This includes tab characters and newlines.
+
+Example usage::
+
+    {% spaceless %}
+        <p>
+            <a href="foo/">Foo</a>
+        </p>
+    {% spaceless %}
+
+This example would return this HTML::
+
+    <p><a href="foo/">Foo</a></p>
+
+Only space between *tags* is stripped -- not space between tags and text. In
+this example, the space around ``Hello`` won't be stripped::
+
+    {% spaceless %}
+        <strong>
+            Hello
+        </strong>
+    {% spaceless %}
+
 ssi
 ~~~
 
diff --git a/tests/othertests/templates.py b/tests/othertests/templates.py
index f4f94e579d..5e3afd01e4 100644
--- a/tests/othertests/templates.py
+++ b/tests/othertests/templates.py
@@ -298,6 +298,11 @@ TEMPLATE_TESTS = {
                     gentlemen.
                     """),
 
+    # {% spaceless %} tag
+    'spaceless01': ("{% spaceless %} <b> <i> text </i> </b> {% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b><i> text </i></b>"),
+    'spaceless02': ("{% spaceless %} <b> \n <i> text </i> \n </b> {% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b><i> text </i></b>"),
+    'spaceless03': ("{% spaceless %}<b><i>text</i></b>{% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b><i>text</i></b>"),
+
     # simple translation of a string delimited by '
     'i18n01': ("{% load i18n %}{% trans 'xxxyyyxxx' %}", {}, "xxxyyyxxx"),