diff --git a/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js b/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js
index c8d75bd809..0e776f27b8 100644
--- a/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js
+++ b/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ export default class File {
       let option = File.options[key];
 
       var val = opts[key];
+      if (!val && option.optional) continue;
       if (val == null) val = option.default || null;
 
       var optionParser = optionParsers[option.type];
@@ -131,8 +132,8 @@ export default class File {
 
     opts.basename = path.basename(opts.filename, path.extname(opts.filename));
 
-    opts.ignore   = util.arrayify(opts.ignore, util.regexify);
-    opts.only     = util.arrayify(opts.only, util.regexify);
+    opts.ignore = util.arrayify(opts.ignore, util.regexify);
+    opts.only   = util.arrayify(opts.only, util.regexify);
 
     defaults(opts, {
       moduleRoot: opts.sourceRoot
@@ -395,6 +396,7 @@ export default class File {
 
     parseOpts.looseModules = this.isLoose("es6.modules");
     parseOpts.strictMode = features.strict;
+    parseOpts.sourceType = "module";
 
     //
 
diff --git a/src/babel/transformation/file/options.json b/src/babel/transformation/file/options.json
index 013b2be31f..9b18d54e15 100644
--- a/src/babel/transformation/file/options.json
+++ b/src/babel/transformation/file/options.json
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 
   "whitelist": {
     "type": "transformerList",
+    "optional": true,
     "description": "Whitelist of transformers to ONLY use",
     "shorthand": "l"
   },
diff --git a/src/babel/transformation/transformer-pass.js b/src/babel/transformation/transformer-pass.js
index e2036f1d45..ccc30b03d8 100644
--- a/src/babel/transformation/transformer-pass.js
+++ b/src/babel/transformation/transformer-pass.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ export default class TransformerPass {
 
     // whitelist
     var whitelist = opts.whitelist;
-    if (whitelist.length) return includes(whitelist, key);
+    if (whitelist) return includes(whitelist, key);
 
     // experimental
     if (transformer.metadata.experimental && opts.experimental) return true;
diff --git a/src/babel/transformation/transformers/other/runtime.js b/src/babel/transformation/transformers/other/runtime.js
index ce4c11203f..55a609707a 100644
--- a/src/babel/transformation/transformers/other/runtime.js
+++ b/src/babel/transformation/transformers/other/runtime.js
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ export var metadata = {
 };
 
 export function manipulateOptions(opts) {
-  if (opts.whitelist.length) opts.whitelist.push("es6.modules");
+  if (opts.whitelist) opts.whitelist.push("es6.modules");
 }
 
 export function Program(node, parent, scope, file) {