diff --git a/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/args.rs b/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/args.rs
index 654d7636da200..8ac28d052a34b 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/args.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_driver_impl/src/args.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,11 @@ fn arg_expand(arg: String) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
             }
             Err(err) => return Err(Error::IOError(path.to_string(), err)),
         };
-        Ok(file.lines().map(ToString::to_string).collect())
+        Ok(file
+            .lines()
+            .map(str::trim)
+            .filter_map(|s| (!s.is_empty()).then(|| s.to_string()))
+            .collect())
     } else {
         Ok(vec![arg])
     }
diff --git a/tests/ui/empty/response-file b/tests/ui/empty/response-file
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..002ddd717f5b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ui/empty/response-file
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+   
+ -v 
+
diff --git a/tests/ui/empty/response-file-ignores-spaces.rs b/tests/ui/empty/response-file-ignores-spaces.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..860961421ebdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ui/empty/response-file-ignores-spaces.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// check-pass
+// compile-flags: @{{src-base}}/empty/response-file
+
+// Check that blank lines as well as leading and trailing whitespace in response
+// files are ignored
+#![crate_type = "lib"]