diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index 1b9369d1a72f625bcb66e021bdab8559930cb0eb..b04ab8c9bba5098e6fd1ebdf2a5d278be503fa41 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -3468,7 +3468,7 @@ sub run_highlighter {
 	close $fd;
 	open $fd, quote_command(git_cmd(), "cat-file", "blob", $hash)." | ".
 	          quote_command($highlight_bin).
-	          " --fragment --syntax $syntax |"
+	          " --replace-tabs=8 --fragment --syntax $syntax |"
 		or die_error(500, "Couldn't open file or run syntax highlighter");
 	return $fd;
 }