diff --git a/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/formatted.js b/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/formatted.js
index 881aa35309a..fc24419ba48 100644
--- a/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/formatted.js
+++ b/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/formatted.js
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ export class FormattedSection {
         this.scale = scale;
         this.fontStack = fontStack;
     }
+
+    serialize() {
+        const fontStack = this.fontStack ?
+            ["literal", this.fontStack.split(',')] :
+            null;
+        return ["formatted", this.text, { "text-font": fontStack, "font-scale": this.scale }];
+    }
 }
 
 export class Formatted {
@@ -30,6 +37,14 @@ export class Formatted {
     toString(): string {
         return this.sections.map(section => section.text).join();
     }
+
+    serialize() {
+        if (this.sections.length === 1) {
+            return this.sections[0].serialize();
+        } else {
+            return ["concat"].concat(this.sections.map(section => section.serialize()));
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 export class FormattedExpression implements Expression {
diff --git a/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/literal.js b/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/literal.js
index d1800400afc..09146fec3d5 100644
--- a/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/literal.js
+++ b/src/style-spec/expression/definitions/literal.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import assert from 'assert';
 import { isValue, typeOf, Color } from '../values';
+import { Formatted } from './formatted';
 
 import type { Type } from '../types';
 import type { Value }  from '../values';
@@ -60,11 +61,17 @@ class Literal implements Expression {
             // couldn't actually generate with a "literal" expression,
             // so we have to implement an equivalent serialization here
             return ["rgba"].concat(this.value.toArray());
+        } else if (this.value instanceof Formatted) {
+            // Constant-folding can generate Literal expressions that you
+            // couldn't actually generate with a "literal" expression,
+            // so we have to implement an equivalent serialization here
+            return this.value.serialize();
         } else {
             assert(this.value === null ||
                 typeof this.value === 'string' ||
                 typeof this.value === 'number' ||
-                typeof this.value === 'boolean');
+                typeof this.value === 'boolean' ||
+                typeof this.value === 'formatted');
             return (this.value: any);
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/style-spec/reference/v8.json b/src/style-spec/reference/v8.json
index cd3d7d1ec10..9698f1c624d 100644
--- a/src/style-spec/reference/v8.json
+++ b/src/style-spec/reference/v8.json
@@ -1505,7 +1505,7 @@
       "property-type": "data-constant"
     },
     "text-field": {
-      "type": "string | formatted",
+      "type": "formatted",
       "default": "",
       "tokens": true,
       "doc": "Value to use for a text label.",
diff --git a/src/style-spec/validate/validate.js b/src/style-spec/validate/validate.js
index 231d9ff8686..5caa8d75800 100644
--- a/src/style-spec/validate/validate.js
+++ b/src/style-spec/validate/validate.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import validateLayer from './validate_layer';
 import validateSource from './validate_source';
 import validateLight from './validate_light';
 import validateString from './validate_string';
+import validateFormatted from './validate_formatted';
 
 const VALIDATORS = {
     '*': function() {
@@ -35,7 +36,8 @@ const VALIDATORS = {
     'object': validateObject,
     'source': validateSource,
     'light': validateLight,
-    'string': validateString
+    'string': validateString,
+    'formatted': validateFormatted
 };
 
 
@@ -64,8 +66,12 @@ export default function validate(options) {
         return VALIDATORS[valueSpec.type](options);
 
     } else {
-        return validateObject(extend({}, options, {
+        const valid = validateObject(extend({}, options, {
             valueSpec: valueSpec.type ? styleSpec[valueSpec.type] : valueSpec
         }));
+        if (!valid) {
+            console.log("not valid");
+        }
+        return valid;
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/style-spec/validate/validate_formatted.js b/src/style-spec/validate/validate_formatted.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4cac73e2450
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/style-spec/validate/validate_formatted.js
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// @flow
+
+import ValidationError from '../error/validation_error';
+import validateExpression from './validate_expression';
+import validateString from './validate_string';
+
+export default function validateFormatted(options: any) {
+    if (validateString(options).length === 0) {
+        return [];
+    }
+
+    return validateExpression(options);
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/expression-tests/concat/formatted/test.json b/test/integration/expression-tests/concat/formatted/test.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dffabf25f70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/expression-tests/concat/formatted/test.json
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+{
+  "expression": [
+    "concat",
+    "a",
+    [
+      "formatted",
+      "b",
+      {
+        "font-scale": 2
+      }
+    ],
+    [
+      "formatted",
+      "c",
+      {
+        "text-font": [
+          "literal",
+          [
+            "a",
+            "b"
+          ]
+        ]
+      }
+    ]
+  ],
+  "inputs": [
+    [
+      {},
+      {}
+    ]
+  ],
+  "expected": {
+    "compiled": {
+      "result": "success",
+      "isFeatureConstant": true,
+      "isZoomConstant": true,
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "outputs": [
+      {
+        "sections": [
+          {
+            "text": "a",
+            "scale": null,
+            "fontStack": null
+          },
+          {
+            "text": "b",
+            "scale": 2,
+            "fontStack": null
+          },
+          {
+            "text": "c",
+            "scale": null,
+            "fontStack": "a,b"
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    ],
+    "serialized": [
+      "concat",
+      [
+        "formatted",
+        "a",
+        {
+          "font-scale": null,
+          "text-font": null
+        }
+      ],
+      [
+        "formatted",
+        "b",
+        {
+          "font-scale": 2,
+          "text-font": null
+        }
+      ],
+      [
+        "formatted",
+        "c",
+        {
+          "font-scale": null,
+          "text-font": ["literal", ["a", "b"]]
+        }
+      ]
+    ]
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted-line/expected.png b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted-line/expected.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2e8583d0719
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted-line/expected.png differ
diff --git a/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted-line/style.json b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted-line/style.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5f2766c9119
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted-line/style.json
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+{
+  "version": 8,
+  "metadata": {
+    "test": {
+      "height": 256
+    }
+  },
+  "center": [
+    13.418056,
+    52.499167
+  ],
+  "zoom": 14,
+  "sources": {
+    "mapbox": {
+      "type": "vector",
+      "maxzoom": 14,
+      "tiles": [
+        "local://tiles/{z}-{x}-{y}.mvt"
+      ]
+    }
+  },
+  "glyphs": "local://glyphs/{fontstack}/{range}.pbf",
+  "layers": [
+    {
+      "id": "background",
+      "type": "background",
+      "paint": {
+        "background-color": "white"
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "literal",
+      "type": "symbol",
+      "source": "mapbox",
+      "source-layer": "road_label",
+      "layout": {
+        "symbol-placement": "line",
+        "text-allow-overlap": true,
+        "text-ignore-placement": true,
+        "text-field": ["concat",
+            ["formatted", ["get", "name"], { "font-scale": 1.2 }],
+            " - ",
+            ["formatted", ["get", "class"], { "font-scale": 0.8, "text-font": ["literal", [ "NotoCJK" ]] }]
+        ],
+        "text-font": [
+          "Open Sans Semibold",
+          "Arial Unicode MS Bold"
+        ],
+        "text-size": 10
+      },
+      "paint": {
+        "text-opacity": 1
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted/expected.png b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted/expected.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..08f856cb509
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted/expected.png differ
diff --git a/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted/style.json b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted/style.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..042c1d26191
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/render-tests/text-field/formatted/style.json
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+{
+  "version": 8,
+  "metadata": {
+    "test": {
+      "height": 256,
+      "width": 256
+    }
+  },
+  "center": [ 0, 0 ],
+  "zoom": 0,
+  "sources": {
+    "point": {
+      "type": "geojson",
+      "data": {
+        "type": "FeatureCollection",
+        "features": [
+          {
+            "type": "Feature",
+            "properties": {
+              "name": "Napoli",
+              "name_en": "Naples"
+            },
+            "geometry": {
+              "type": "Point",
+              "coordinates": [ 0, 0 ]
+            }
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "glyphs": "local://glyphs/{fontstack}/{range}.pbf",
+  "layers": [
+    {
+      "id": "text",
+      "type": "symbol",
+      "source": "point",
+      "layout": {
+        "text-field": ["concat",
+            ["formatted", ["get", "name_en"], { "font-scale": 1.5 }],
+            ["formatted", "Italy", { "font-scale": 0.5} ],
+            "\n",
+            ["formatted", ["get", "name"], { "font-scale": 0.5, "text-font": ["literal", [ "NotoCJK" ]] }]
+        ],
+        "text-font": [
+          "Open Sans Semibold",
+          "Arial Unicode MS Bold"
+        ],
+        "text-size": 32
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}