diff --git a/bin/babel/index.js b/bin/babel/index.js
index 1a9eda4947..59c5b42328 100755
--- a/bin/babel/index.js
+++ b/bin/babel/index.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ commander.option("-r, --external-helpers", "Replace helpers with references to a
 commander.option("-e, --experimental", "Enable experimental support for proposed ES7 features");
 commander.option("-p, --playground", "Enable playground support");
 
+commander.option("-c, --compact [mode]", "When set to \"auto\" compact is `true` when the input size exceeds 100KB. (auto|true|false)", "auto");
 commander.option("-m, --modules [modules]", "Module formatter type to use [common]", "common");
 commander.option("-l, --whitelist [whitelist]", "Whitelist of transformers to ONLY use", util.list);
 commander.option("-b, --blacklist [blacklist]", "Blacklist of transformers to NOT use", util.list);
@@ -113,6 +114,7 @@ exports.opts = {
   optional:               commander.optional,
   comments:               !commander.removeComments,
   modules:                commander.modules,
+  compact:                commander.compact,
   loose:                  commander.loose
 };
 
diff --git a/lib/babel/generation/buffer.js b/lib/babel/generation/buffer.js
index 330a57b250..a6b30837fd 100644
--- a/lib/babel/generation/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/babel/generation/buffer.js
@@ -5,11 +5,10 @@ module.exports = Buffer;
 var repeating = require("repeating");
 var trimRight = require("trim-right");
 var isBoolean = require("lodash/lang/isBoolean");
-var messages  = require("../messages");
 var includes  = require("lodash/collection/includes");
 var isNumber  = require("lodash/lang/isNumber");
 
-function Buffer(position, format, opts, code) {
+function Buffer(position, format) {
   this.position = position;
   this._indent  = format.indent.base;
   this.format   = format;
diff --git a/lib/babel/generation/generators/expressions.js b/lib/babel/generation/generators/expressions.js
index 68b54ed368..97e6c1effe 100644
--- a/lib/babel/generation/generators/expressions.js
+++ b/lib/babel/generation/generators/expressions.js
@@ -46,11 +46,9 @@ exports.ConditionalExpression = function (node, print) {
 exports.NewExpression = function (node, print) {
   this.push("new ");
   print(node.callee);
-  if (node.arguments.length || this.format.parentheses) {
-    this.push("(");
-    print.list(node.arguments);
-    this.push(")");
-  }
+  this.push("(");
+  print.list(node.arguments);
+  this.push(")");
 };
 
 exports.SequenceExpression = function (node, print) {
diff --git a/lib/babel/generation/generators/statements.js b/lib/babel/generation/generators/statements.js
index 98bb3983fb..f027f35826 100644
--- a/lib/babel/generation/generators/statements.js
+++ b/lib/babel/generation/generators/statements.js
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ exports.SwitchStatement = function (node, print) {
   this.push("}");
 };
 
-exports.SwitchCase = function (node, print, parent) {
+exports.SwitchCase = function (node, print) {
   if (node.test) {
     this.push("case ");
     print(node.test);
diff --git a/lib/babel/generation/index.js b/lib/babel/generation/index.js
index 140eb8a555..78ee131d6e 100644
--- a/lib/babel/generation/index.js
+++ b/lib/babel/generation/index.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ var Whitespace   = require("./whitespace");
 var repeating    = require("repeating");
 var SourceMap    = require("./source-map");
 var Position     = require("./position");
+var messages     = require("../messages");
 var Buffer       = require("./buffer");
 var extend       = require("lodash/object/extend");
 var merge        = require("lodash/object/merge");
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ function CodeGenerator(ast, opts, code) {
   this.whitespace = new Whitespace(this.tokens, this.comments, this.format);
   this.position   = new Position;
   this.map        = new SourceMap(this.position, opts, code);
-  this.buffer     = new Buffer(this.position, this.format, opts, code);
+  this.buffer     = new Buffer(this.position, this.format);
 }
 
 each(Buffer.prototype, function (fn, key) {
@@ -47,23 +48,20 @@ CodeGenerator.normalizeOptions = function (code, opts) {
     if (indent && indent !== " ") style = indent;
   }
 
-  var format = merge({
-    parentheses: true,
+  var format = {
     comments: opts.comments == null || opts.comments,
-    concise: false,
-    compact: "auto",
+    compact: opts.compact,
     indent: {
       adjustMultilineComment: true,
       style: style,
       base: 0
     }
-  }, opts.format || {});
+  };
 
   if (format.compact === "auto") {
     format.compact = code.length > 100000; // 100KB
 
     if (format.compact) {
-      format.compact = true;
       console.error(messages.get("codeGeneratorDeopt", opts.filename, "100KB"));
     }
   }
diff --git a/lib/babel/transformation/file.js b/lib/babel/transformation/file.js
index 6d0ea188a1..86cd6cf9e3 100644
--- a/lib/babel/transformation/file.js
+++ b/lib/babel/transformation/file.js
@@ -83,15 +83,18 @@ File.validOptions = [
   "keepModuleIdExtensions",
   "code",
   "ast",
-  "format",
   "playground",
   "experimental",
   "externalHelpers",
   "auxiliaryComment",
+  "compact",
 
   "resolveModuleSource",
   "getModuleName",
 
+  // legacy
+  "format",
+
   // these are used by plugins
   "ignore",
   "only",
@@ -124,6 +127,7 @@ File.prototype.normalizeOptions = function (opts) {
     comments:               true,
     filename:               "unknown",
     modules:                "common",
+    compact:                "auto",
     loose:                  [],
     code:                   true,
     ast:                    true
@@ -140,6 +144,7 @@ File.prototype.normalizeOptions = function (opts) {
   opts.blacklist = util.arrayify(opts.blacklist);
   opts.whitelist = util.arrayify(opts.whitelist);
   opts.optional  = util.arrayify(opts.optional);
+  opts.compact   = util.booleanify(opts.compact);
   opts.loose     = util.arrayify(opts.loose);
 
   if (includes(opts.loose, "all") || includes(opts.loose, true)) {
@@ -178,8 +183,7 @@ File.prototype.normalizeOptions = function (opts) {
 
   if (opts.reactCompat) {
     opts.optional.push("reactCompat");
-    console.error("The reactCompat option has been moved into the optional transformer " +
-                  "`reactCompat` - backwards compatibility will be removed in v4.0.0");
+    console.error("The reactCompat option has been moved into the optional transformer `reactCompat`");
   }
 
   var ensureEnabled = function (key) {
diff --git a/lib/babel/util.js b/lib/babel/util.js
index 4b1b1e8ea3..803e0b4eb4 100644
--- a/lib/babel/util.js
+++ b/lib/babel/util.js
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@ exports.arrayify = function (val) {
   throw new TypeError("illegal type for arrayify");
 };
 
+exports.booleanify = function (val) {
+  if (val === "true") return true;
+  if (val === "false") return false;
+  return val;
+};
+
 var templateVisitor = {
   enter: function (node, parent, scope, nodes) {
     if (t.isExpressionStatement(node)) {