diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index d1074d33..8232d78c 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ Version 2.1.5
 
 Unreleased
 
+-   Fix ``striptags`` not collapsing spaces. :issue:`417`
+
 
 Version 2.1.4
 -------------
diff --git a/src/markupsafe/__init__.py b/src/markupsafe/__init__.py
index 1e0f0228..e8903bcd 100644
--- a/src/markupsafe/__init__.py
+++ b/src/markupsafe/__init__.py
@@ -158,8 +158,7 @@ def striptags(self) -> str:
         >>> Markup("Main &raquo;\t<em>About</em>").striptags()
         'Main » About'
         """
-        # collapse spaces
-        value = " ".join(self.split())
+        value = str(self)
 
         # Look for comments then tags separately. Otherwise, a comment that
         # contains a tag would end early, leaving some of the comment behind.
@@ -193,6 +192,8 @@ def striptags(self) -> str:
 
             value = f"{value[:start]}{value[end + 1:]}"
 
+        # collapse spaces
+        value = " ".join(value.split())
         return self.__class__(value).unescape()
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/tests/test_markupsafe.py b/tests/test_markupsafe.py
index ea9a9187..94bea387 100644
--- a/tests/test_markupsafe.py
+++ b/tests/test_markupsafe.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def test_escaping(escape):
         Markup(
             "<!-- outer comment -->"
             "<em>Foo &amp; Bar"
-            "<!-- inner comment about <em> -->"
+            " <!-- inner comment about <em> -->\n "
             "</em>"
             "<!-- comment\nwith\nnewlines\n-->"
             "<meta content='tag\nwith\nnewlines'>"