diff --git a/lib/compile/jtd/parse.ts b/lib/compile/jtd/parse.ts
index d42c8ea1d6..dee24033a3 100644
--- a/lib/compile/jtd/parse.ts
+++ b/lib/compile/jtd/parse.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import N from "../names"
 import {isOwnProperty, hasPropFunc} from "../../vocabularies/code"
 import {hasRef} from "../../vocabularies/jtd/ref"
 import {intRange, IntType} from "../../vocabularies/jtd/type"
-import {parseJson, parseJsonNumber, parseJsonString} from "../../runtime/parseJson"
+import {parseJson, parseJsonNumber, parseJsonString, skipWhitespace} from "../../runtime/parseJson"
 import {func} from "../util"
 import validTimestamp from "../timestamp"
 
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ function parserFunction(cxt: ParseCxt, parseName: Name): void {
     gen.assign(N.jsonPos, _`${N.jsonPos} || 0`)
     gen.const(N.jsonLen, _`${N.json}.length`)
     parseCode(cxt)
+    whitespace(gen)
     gen.if(N.jsonPart, () => gen.return(_`[${N.data}, ${N.jsonPos}]`))
     gen.if(_`${N.jsonPos} === ${N.jsonLen}`, () => gen.return(N.data))
     jsonSyntaxError(cxt)
@@ -298,6 +299,7 @@ function parseEnum(cxt: ParseCxt): void {
 
 function parseNumber(cxt: ParseCxt, maxDigits?: number): void {
   const {gen} = cxt
+  gen.assign(N.jsonPos, _`${func(gen, skipWhitespace)}(${N.json}, ${N.jsonPos})`)
   gen.if(
     _`"-0123456789".indexOf(${jsonSlice(1)}) < 0`,
     () => jsonSyntaxError(cxt),
@@ -360,6 +362,7 @@ function parseToken(cxt: ParseCxt, tok: string): void {
 function tryParseToken(cxt: ParseCxt, tok: string, fail: GenParse, success?: GenParse): void {
   const {gen} = cxt
   const n = tok.length
+  whitespace(gen)
   gen.if(
     _`${jsonSlice(n)} === ${tok}`,
     () => {
@@ -370,6 +373,10 @@ function tryParseToken(cxt: ParseCxt, tok: string, fail: GenParse, success?: Gen
   )
 }
 
+function whitespace(gen: CodeGen): void {
+  gen.assign(N.jsonPos, _`${func(gen, skipWhitespace)}(${N.json}, ${N.jsonPos})`)
+}
+
 function jsonSlice(len: number | Name): Code {
   return len === 1
     ? _`${N.json}[${N.jsonPos}]`
diff --git a/lib/runtime/parseJson.ts b/lib/runtime/parseJson.ts
index 0623a322af..3ef8d28f26 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/parseJson.ts
+++ b/lib/runtime/parseJson.ts
@@ -122,6 +122,14 @@ export function parseJsonString(s: string, pos: number): [string, number] {
 
 parseJsonString.code = _`require("ajv/dist/runtime/parseJson").parseJsonString`
 
+export function skipWhitespace(s: string, pos: number): number {
+  let c: string
+  while (((c = s[pos]), c === " " || c === "\n" || c === "\r" || c === "\t")) pos++
+  return pos
+}
+
+skipWhitespace.code = _`require("ajv/dist/runtime/parseJson").skipWhitespace`
+
 function unexpectedEnd(): never {
   throw new SyntaxError("Unexpected end of JSON input")
 }
diff --git a/spec/jtd-schema.spec.ts b/spec/jtd-schema.spec.ts
index 208c760aa4..0bea0b140a 100644
--- a/spec/jtd-schema.spec.ts
+++ b/spec/jtd-schema.spec.ts
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ describe("JSON Type Definition", () => {
     }
   })
 
-  describe("parse", () => {
+  describe.only("parse", () => {
     const ajv = new _AjvJTD()
 
     for (const testName in jtdValidationTests) {
@@ -123,12 +123,14 @@ describe("JSON Type Definition", () => {
             const parse = ajv.compileParser(schema)
             // console.log(schema, instance, `"${JSON.stringify(instance)}"`, parse.toString())
             assert.deepStrictEqual(parse(JSON.stringify(instance)), instance)
+            assert.deepStrictEqual(parse(`  ${JSON.stringify(instance, null, 2)}  `), instance)
           })
         } else {
           it(`should throw exception on invalid JSON string`, () => {
             const parse = ajv.compileParser(schema)
             // console.log(parse.toString())
             assert.throws(() => parse(JSON.stringify(instance)))
+            assert.throws(() => parse(`  ${JSON.stringify(instance, null, 2)}  `))
           })
         }
       })