diff --git a/src/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream.cpp b/src/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream.cpp
index 9dcdf490412..50f87900161 100644
--- a/src/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream.cpp
@@ -2913,6 +2913,8 @@ public:
     uint hasIoError :1;
     uint hasEncodingError :1;
     uint autoFormatting :1;
+    uint didWriteStartDocument :1;
+    uint didWriteAnyToken :1;
     std::string autoFormattingIndent;
     NamespaceDeclaration emptyNamespace;
     qsizetype lastNamespaceDeclaration;
@@ -2946,6 +2948,8 @@ QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::QXmlStreamWriterPrivate(QXmlStreamWriter *q)
     lastNamespaceDeclaration = 1;
     autoFormatting = false;
     namespacePrefixCount = 0;
+    didWriteStartDocument = false;
+    didWriteAnyToken = false;
 }
 
 void QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::write(QAnyStringView s)
@@ -3065,6 +3069,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::writeNamespaceDeclaration(const NamespaceDeclarati
         write(namespaceDeclaration.namespaceUri);
         write("\"");
     }
+    didWriteAnyToken = true;
 }
 
 bool QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::finishStartElement(bool contents)
@@ -3084,6 +3089,7 @@ bool QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::finishStartElement(bool contents)
     }
     inStartElement = inEmptyElement = false;
     lastNamespaceDeclaration = namespaceDeclarations.size();
+    didWriteAnyToken = true;
     return hadSomethingWritten;
 }
 
@@ -3149,7 +3155,8 @@ QXmlStreamPrivateTagStack::NamespaceDeclaration &QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::findNa
 
 void QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::indent(int level)
 {
-    write("\n");
+    if (didWriteStartDocument || didWriteAnyToken)
+        write("\n");
     for (int i = 0; i < level; ++i)
         write(autoFormattingIndent);
 }
@@ -3375,6 +3382,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriter::writeAttribute(QAnyStringView qualifiedName, QAnyStringVi
     d->write("=\"");
     d->writeEscaped(value, true);
     d->write("\"");
+    d->didWriteAnyToken = true;
 }
 
 /*!  Writes an attribute with \a name and \a value, prefixed for
@@ -3403,6 +3411,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriter::writeAttribute(QAnyStringView namespaceUri, QAnyStringVie
     d->write("=\"");
     d->writeEscaped(value, true);
     d->write("\"");
+    d->didWriteAnyToken = true;
 }
 
 /*!
@@ -3610,7 +3619,8 @@ void QXmlStreamWriter::writeEndDocument()
     Q_D(QXmlStreamWriter);
     while (d->tagStack.size())
         writeEndElement();
-    d->write("\n");
+    if (d->didWriteStartDocument || d->didWriteAnyToken)
+        d->write("\n");
 }
 
 /*!
@@ -3621,6 +3631,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriter::writeEndDocument()
 void QXmlStreamWriter::writeEndElement()
 {
     Q_D(QXmlStreamWriter);
+    Q_ASSERT(d->didWriteAnyToken);
     if (d->tagStack.isEmpty())
         return;
 
@@ -3744,6 +3755,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriter::writeProcessingInstruction(QAnyStringView target, QAnyStr
         d->write(data);
     }
     d->write("?>");
+    d->didWriteAnyToken = true;
 }
 
 
@@ -3778,6 +3790,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriter::writeStartDocument(QAnyStringView version)
     if (d->device) // stringDevice does not get any encoding
         d->write("\" encoding=\"UTF-8");
     d->write("\"?>");
+    d->didWriteStartDocument = true;
 }
 
 /*!  Writes a document start with the XML version number \a version
@@ -3801,6 +3814,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriter::writeStartDocument(QAnyStringView version, bool standalon
         d->write("\" standalone=\"yes\"?>");
     else
         d->write("\" standalone=\"no\"?>");
+    d->didWriteStartDocument = true;
 }
 
 
@@ -3862,6 +3876,7 @@ void QXmlStreamWriterPrivate::writeStartElement(QAnyStringView namespaceUri, QAn
             writeNamespaceDeclaration(namespaceDeclarations[i]);
     }
     tag.namespaceDeclarationsSize = lastNamespaceDeclaration;
+    didWriteAnyToken = true;
 }
 
 /*!  Writes the current state of the \a reader. All possible valid
diff --git a/tests/auto/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream/tst_qxmlstream.cpp b/tests/auto/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream/tst_qxmlstream.cpp
index b90d05b0fa1..d40cb8fa8d0 100644
--- a/tests/auto/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream/tst_qxmlstream.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/corelib/serialization/qxmlstream/tst_qxmlstream.cpp
@@ -559,6 +559,10 @@ private slots:
     void writerAutoFormattingWithProcessingInstructions() const;
     void writerAutoEmptyTags() const;
     void writeAttributesWithSpace() const;
+    void writerAutoFormattingProcessingInstructionFirst() const;
+    void writerAutoFormattingStartElementFirst() const;
+    void writerAutoFormattingCommentFirst() const;
+    void writerAutoFormattingNamespaceFirst() const;
     void addExtraNamespaceDeclarations();
     void setEntityResolver();
     void readFromQBuffer() const;
@@ -1075,6 +1079,74 @@ void tst_QXmlStream::writeAttributesWithSpace() const
     QCOMPARE(buffer.buffer().data(), s.toUtf8().data());
 }
 
+void tst_QXmlStream::writerAutoFormattingProcessingInstructionFirst() const
+{
+    QBuffer buffer;
+    buffer.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
+    QXmlStreamWriter writer(&buffer);
+    writer.setAutoFormatting(true);
+    writer.writeProcessingInstruction("B");
+    writer.writeComment("This is a comment");
+    writer.writeStartElement("A");
+    writer.writeNamespace("http://website.com", "website");
+    writer.writeDefaultNamespace("http://websiteNo2.com");
+    writer.writeEndElement();
+    writer.writeEndDocument();
+    const char *str =
+            "<?B?>\n<!--This is a comment-->\n<A xmlns:website=\"http://website.com\" xmlns=\"http://websiteNo2.com\"/>\n";
+    QCOMPARE(buffer.buffer().data(), str);
+}
+void tst_QXmlStream::writerAutoFormattingStartElementFirst() const
+{
+    QBuffer buffer;
+    buffer.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
+    QXmlStreamWriter writer(&buffer);
+    writer.setAutoFormatting(true);
+    writer.writeStartElement("A");
+    writer.writeNamespace("http://website.com", "website");
+    writer.writeComment("This is a comment");
+    writer.writeProcessingInstruction("B");
+    writer.writeDefaultNamespace("http://websiteNo2.com");
+    writer.writeEndElement();
+    writer.writeEndDocument();
+    const char *str = "<A xmlns:website=\"http://website.com\">\n    <!--This is a comment-->\n    <?B?>\n</A>\n";
+    QCOMPARE(buffer.buffer().data(), str);
+}
+
+void tst_QXmlStream::writerAutoFormattingCommentFirst() const
+{
+    QBuffer buffer;
+    buffer.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
+    QXmlStreamWriter writer(&buffer);
+    writer.setAutoFormatting(true);
+    writer.writeComment("This is a comment");
+    writer.writeStartElement("A");
+    writer.writeNamespace("http://website.com", "website");
+    writer.writeEndElement();
+    writer.writeDefaultNamespace("http://websiteNo2.com");
+    writer.writeProcessingInstruction("B");
+    writer.writeEndDocument();
+    const char *str = "<!--This is a comment--><A xmlns:website=\"http://website.com\"/>\n<?B?>\n";
+    QCOMPARE(buffer.buffer().data(), str);
+}
+
+void tst_QXmlStream::writerAutoFormattingNamespaceFirst() const
+{
+    QBuffer buffer;
+    buffer.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
+    QXmlStreamWriter writer(&buffer);
+    writer.setAutoFormatting(true);
+    writer.writeNamespace("http://website.com", "website");
+    writer.writeStartElement("A");
+    writer.writeDefaultNamespace("http://websiteNo2.com");
+    writer.writeProcessingInstruction("B");
+    writer.writeEndElement();
+    writer.writeComment("This is a comment");
+    writer.writeEndDocument();
+    const char *str = "<A xmlns:website=\"http://website.com\" xmlns=\"http://websiteNo2.com\">\n    <?B?></A>\n<!--This is a comment-->\n";
+    QCOMPARE(buffer.buffer().data(), str);
+}
+
 void tst_QXmlStream::writerAutoEmptyTags() const
 {
     QBuffer buffer;