diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index 67757e999f..411d5e4153 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -615,6 +615,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
 	const char *hook_arg1 = NULL;
 	const char *hook_arg2 = NULL;
 	int ident_shown = 0;
+	int clean_message_contents = (cleanup_mode != CLEANUP_NONE);
 
 	if (!no_verify && run_hook(index_file, "pre-commit", NULL))
 		return 0;
@@ -681,6 +682,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
 		if (strbuf_read_file(&sb, template_file, 0) < 0)
 			die_errno(_("could not read '%s'"), template_file);
 		hook_arg1 = "template";
+		clean_message_contents = 0;
 	}
 
 	/*
@@ -708,7 +710,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
 	if (s->fp == NULL)
 		die_errno(_("could not open '%s'"), git_path(commit_editmsg));
 
-	if (cleanup_mode != CLEANUP_NONE)
+	if (clean_message_contents)
 		stripspace(&sb, 0);
 
 	if (signoff) {
diff --git a/t/t7500-commit.sh b/t/t7500-commit.sh
index bcdf0847d0..9ef00906cc 100755
--- a/t/t7500-commit.sh
+++ b/t/t7500-commit.sh
@@ -123,6 +123,20 @@ test_expect_success 'commit message from file should override template' '
 	commit_msg_is "standard input msg"
 '
 
+cat >"$TEMPLATE" <<\EOF
+
+
+### template
+
+EOF
+test_expect_success 'commit message from template with whitespace issue' '
+	echo "content galore" >>foo &&
+	git add foo &&
+	GIT_EDITOR="$TEST_DIRECTORY"/t7500/add-whitespaced-content git commit \
+		--template "$TEMPLATE" &&
+	commit_msg_is "commit message"
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'using alternate GIT_INDEX_FILE (1)' '
 
 	cp .git/index saved-index &&
diff --git a/t/t7500/add-whitespaced-content b/t/t7500/add-whitespaced-content
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ccf07c61a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t7500/add-whitespaced-content
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+sed -e 's/|$//' >>"$1" <<\EOF
+
+ |
+commit message  	 |
+
+EOF
+exit 0