diff --git a/src/Composer/Compiler.php b/src/Composer/Compiler.php
index 0ecaba914..5e77bbf9e 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Compiler.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Compiler.php
@@ -104,8 +104,10 @@ class Compiler
 
         if ($strip) {
             $content = php_strip_whitespace($file);
-        } else {
+        } elseif ('LICENSE' === basename($file)) {
             $content = "\n".file_get_contents($file)."\n";
+        } else {
+            $content = file_get_contents($file);
         }
 
         $content = str_replace('@package_version@', $this->version, $content);