diff --git a/lisp/ob-tangle.el b/lisp/ob-tangle.el
index be7e9a6e2..d49c35667 100644
--- a/lisp/ob-tangle.el
+++ b/lisp/ob-tangle.el
@@ -352,7 +352,10 @@ that the appropriate major-mode is set.  SPEC has the form:
      (format
       "%s\n"
       (org-unescape-code-in-string
-       (org-babel-trim body (if org-src-preserve-indentation "[\f\n\r\v]")))))
+       (let ((rep (if org-src-preserve-indentation "[\f\n\r\v]"
+		    "[\f\t\n\r\v]")))
+	 (replace-regexp-in-string
+	  (concat rep "\\(.+\\)" rep) "\\1" body)))))
     (when link-p
       (funcall
        insert-comment