diff --git a/docs/config/build-options.md b/docs/config/build-options.md
index 3419070bd474a6..7d8d6fdaceb619 100644
--- a/docs/config/build-options.md
+++ b/docs/config/build-options.md
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ During the SSR build, static assets aren't emitted as it is assumed they would b
 
 Set to `false` to disable minification, or specify the minifier to use. The default is [esbuild](https://github.com/evanw/esbuild) which is 20 ~ 40x faster than terser and only 1 ~ 2% worse compression. [Benchmarks](https://github.com/privatenumber/minification-benchmarks)
 
-Note the `build.minify` option does not minify whitespaces when using the `'es'` format in lib mode, as it removes pure annotations and breaks tree-shaking.
+Note the `build.minify` option does not minify whitespaces when using the `'es'` format in lib mode, as it removes pure annotations and breaks tree-shaking. To force whitespace minification for `'es'` format in lib mode, explicitly set `esbuild.minifyWhitespace` to `true`.
 
 Terser must be installed when it is set to `'terser'`.
 
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/plugins/esbuild.spec.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/plugins/esbuild.spec.ts
index 936415f9c33826..ae16fbe45b65f7 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/plugins/esbuild.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/plugins/esbuild.spec.ts
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ describe('resolveEsbuildTranspileOptions', () => {
       minify: false,
       minifyIdentifiers: true,
       minifySyntax: true,
-      minifyWhitespace: false,
+      minifyWhitespace: true,
       treeShaking: true,
       supported: {
         'dynamic-import': true,
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
index 6d3ffc86f33b06..c2f2b14525478f 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ export function resolveEsbuildTranspileOptions(
         minify: false,
         minifyIdentifiers: options.minifyIdentifiers ?? true,
         minifySyntax: options.minifySyntax ?? true,
-        minifyWhitespace: false,
+        minifyWhitespace: options.minifyWhitespace ?? false,
         treeShaking: true,
       }
     } else {