diff --git a/packages/react/src/format.test.tsx b/packages/react/src/format.test.tsx
index 1b4374b5d..6a9ff7e6f 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/format.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/react/src/format.test.tsx
@@ -32,6 +32,20 @@ describe("formatElements", function () {
     ).toEqual('<a href="/about">About</a>')
   })
 
+  it("should preserve newlines", function () {
+    expect(html(formatElements("<0>Inn\ner</0>", { 0: <strong /> }))).toEqual(
+      "<strong>Inn\ner</strong>"
+    )
+
+    expect(
+      html(formatElements("Before <0>Inn\r\ner</0> After", { 0: <strong /> }))
+    ).toEqual("Before <strong>Inn\r\ner</strong> After")
+
+    expect(
+      html(formatElements("<0>Ab\rout</0>", { 0: <a href="/about" /> }))
+    ).toEqual('<a href="/about">Ab\rout</a>')
+  })
+
   it("should preserve named element props", function () {
     expect(
       html(
@@ -69,7 +83,7 @@ describe("formatElements", function () {
         )
       )
     ).toEqual(
-      'Before <a href="/about">Inside <strong>Nested</strong> Between <br> After</a>'
+      'Before \n<a href="/about">Inside <strong>\nNested</strong>\n Between <br> After</a>'
     )
   })
 
diff --git a/packages/react/src/format.ts b/packages/react/src/format.ts
index a341faa83..d4f2eeac5 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/format.ts
+++ b/packages/react/src/format.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 import React from "react"
 
 // match <tag>paired</tag> and <tag/> unpaired tags
-const tagRe = /<([a-zA-Z0-9]+)>(.*?)<\/\1>|<([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\/>/
-const nlRe = /(?:\r\n|\r|\n)/g
+const tagRe = /<([a-zA-Z0-9]+)>([\s\S]*?)<\/\1>|<([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\/>/
 
 // For HTML, certain tags should omit their close tag. We keep a whitelist for
 // those special-case tags.
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ function formatElements(
   elements: { [key: string]: React.ReactElement } = {}
 ): string | React.ReactElement | Array<React.ReactElement | string> {
   const uniqueId = makeCounter(0, "$lingui$")
-  const parts = value.replace(nlRe, "").split(tagRe)
+  const parts = value.split(tagRe)
 
   // no inline elements, return
   if (parts.length === 1) return value