diff --git a/matrix/colors.py b/matrix/colors.py
index 2f51936..3eeabb8 100644
--- a/matrix/colors.py
+++ b/matrix/colors.py
@@ -318,17 +318,24 @@ class Formatted(object):
                     try:
                         lexer = get_lexer_by_name(value)
                     except ClassNotFound:
-                        return colored_text_block(
-                            string,
-                            margin=margin,
-                            color_pair=code_color_pair)
+                        if G.CONFIG.look.code_blocks:
+                            return colored_text_block(
+                                string,
+                                margin=margin,
+                                color_pair=code_color_pair)
+                        else:
+                            return string_color_and_reset(string,
+                                                          code_color_pair)
 
                     try:
                         style = get_style_by_name(G.CONFIG.look.pygments_style)
                     except ClassNotFound:
                         style = "native"
 
-                    code_block = text_block(string, margin=margin)
+                    if G.CONFIG.look.code_blocks:
+                        code_block = text_block(string, margin=margin)
+                    else:
+                        code_block = string
 
                     # highlight adds a newline to the end of the string, remove
                     # it from the output
diff --git a/matrix/config.py b/matrix/config.py
index d16d456..4f28963 100644
--- a/matrix/config.py
+++ b/matrix/config.py
@@ -496,6 +496,17 @@ class MatrixConfig(WeechatConfig):
                 "native",
                 "Pygments style to use for highlighting source code blocks",
             ),
+            Option(
+                "code_blocks",
+                "boolean",
+                "",
+                0,
+                0,
+                "on",
+                ("Display preformatted code blocks as rectangular areas by "
+                 "padding them with whitespace up to the length of the longest "
+                 "line (with optional margin)"),
+            ),
             Option(
                 "code_block_margin",
                 "integer",