diff --git a/crates/nu-json/src/ser.rs b/crates/nu-json/src/ser.rs
index b29a988295..4826c34c4f 100644
--- a/crates/nu-json/src/ser.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-json/src/ser.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 use std::fmt::{Display, LowerExp};
 use std::io;
+use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader};
 use std::num::FpCategory;
 
 use super::error::{Error, ErrorCode, Result};
@@ -1032,7 +1033,20 @@ where
     T: ser::Serialize,
 {
     let vec = to_vec(value)?;
-    let mut string = String::from_utf8(vec)?;
-    string.retain(|c| !c.is_whitespace());
+    let string = remove_json_whitespace(vec);
     Ok(string)
 }
+
+fn remove_json_whitespace(v: Vec<u8>) -> String {
+    let reader = BufReader::new(&v[..]);
+    let mut output = String::new();
+    for line in reader.lines() {
+        match line {
+            Ok(line) => output.push_str(line.trim().trim_end()),
+            _ => {
+                eprintln!("Error removing JSON whitespace");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    output
+}
diff --git a/src/tests/test_converters.rs b/src/tests/test_converters.rs
index d4b935c730..16fda1c3d2 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_converters.rs
+++ b/src/tests/test_converters.rs
@@ -15,9 +15,25 @@ fn from_json_2() -> TestResult {
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn to_json_raw_flag() -> TestResult {
+fn to_json_raw_flag_1() -> TestResult {
     run_test(
         "[[a b]; [jim susie] [3 4]] | to json -r",
-        r#"[{"a":"jim","b":"susie"},{"a":3,"b":4}]"#,
+        r#"[{"a": "jim","b": "susie"},{"a": 3,"b": 4}]"#,
+    )
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn to_json_raw_flag_2() -> TestResult {
+    run_test(
+        "[[\"a b\" c]; [jim susie] [3 4]] | to json -r",
+        r#"[{"a b": "jim","c": "susie"},{"a b": 3,"c": 4}]"#,
+    )
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn to_json_raw_flag_3() -> TestResult {
+    run_test(
+        "[[\"a b\" \"c d\"]; [\"jim smith\" \"susie roberts\"] [3 4]] | to json -r",
+        r#"[{"a b": "jim smith","c d": "susie roberts"},{"a b": 3,"c d": 4}]"#,
     )
 }