diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 761d5ec4..bc55c843 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## Fixed
 - fix commit msg being broken inside tag list ([#871](https://github.com/extrawurst/gitui/issues/871))
+- fix filetree file content not showing tabs correctly ([#874](https://github.com/extrawurst/gitui/issues/874))
 
 ## [0.17.0] - 2021-08-21
 
diff --git a/src/components/diff.rs b/src/components/diff.rs
index c46ab2d0..d1ed6758 100644
--- a/src/components/diff.rs
+++ b/src/components/diff.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ use super::{
 	Direction, DrawableComponent, ScrollType,
 };
 use crate::{
-	components::{CommandInfo, Component, EventState},
+	components::{
+		tabs_to_spaces, CommandInfo, Component, EventState,
+	},
 	keys::SharedKeyConfig,
 	queue::{Action, InternalEvent, NeedsUpdate, Queue, ResetItem},
 	strings, try_or_popup,
@@ -425,13 +427,11 @@ impl DiffComponent {
 			// weird eof missing eol line
 			format!("{}\n", trimmed)
 		};
-		//TODO: allow customize tabsize
-		let content = Cow::from(filled.replace("\t", "  "));
 
 		Spans::from(vec![
 			left_side_of_line,
 			Span::styled(
-				content,
+				Cow::from(tabs_to_spaces(filled)),
 				theme.diff_line(line.line_type, selected),
 			),
 		])
diff --git a/src/components/mod.rs b/src/components/mod.rs
index aca90a14..013d9675 100644
--- a/src/components/mod.rs
+++ b/src/components/mod.rs
@@ -312,3 +312,12 @@ where
 		.alignment(Alignment::Left)
 		.wrap(Wrap { trim: true })
 }
+
+//TODO: allow customize tabsize
+pub fn tabs_to_spaces(input: String) -> String {
+	if input.contains('\t') {
+		input.replace("\t", "  ")
+	} else {
+		input
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/components/syntax_text.rs b/src/components/syntax_text.rs
index 26d4eba2..7a5dddc7 100644
--- a/src/components/syntax_text.rs
+++ b/src/components/syntax_text.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use super::{
-	CommandBlocking, CommandInfo, Component, DrawableComponent,
-	EventState,
+	tabs_to_spaces, CommandBlocking, CommandInfo, Component,
+	DrawableComponent, EventState,
 };
 use crate::{
 	keys::SharedKeyConfig,
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ impl SyntaxTextComponent {
 			//TODO: fetch file content async aswell
 			match sync::tree_file_content(CWD, item) {
 				Ok(content) => {
+					let content = tabs_to_spaces(content);
 					self.async_highlighting.spawn(
 						AsyncSyntaxJob::new(
 							content.clone(),