diff --git a/docs/Parameters.rst b/docs/Parameters.rst
index 9632e020deb6..1ea8ec4b9d45 100644
--- a/docs/Parameters.rst
+++ b/docs/Parameters.rst
@@ -820,6 +820,12 @@ Dataset Parameters
 
    -  **Note**: can be used only in CLI version; for language-specific packages you can use the correspondent function
 
+-  ``precise_float_parser`` :raw-html:`<a id="precise_float_parser" title="Permalink to this parameter" href="#precise_float_parser">&#x1F517;&#xFE0E;</a>`, default = ``false``, type = bool
+
+   -  Use precise floating point number parsing for text parser (e.g. CSV, TSV, LibSVM input).
+
+   -  **Note**: setting this to ``true`` may lead to much slower text parsing.
+
 Predict Parameters
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/include/LightGBM/config.h b/include/LightGBM/config.h
index 73696cdb88f8..a7334cbe521c 100644
--- a/include/LightGBM/config.h
+++ b/include/LightGBM/config.h
@@ -712,6 +712,11 @@ struct Config {
   // desc = **Note**: can be used only in CLI version; for language-specific packages you can use the correspondent function
   bool save_binary = false;
 
+  // [no-save]
+  // desc = Use precise floating point number parsing for text parser (e.g. CSV, TSV, LibSVM input).
+  // desc = **Note**: setting this to ``true`` may lead to much slower text parsing.
+  bool precise_float_parser = false;
+
   #pragma endregion
 
   #pragma region Predict Parameters
diff --git a/include/LightGBM/dataset.h b/include/LightGBM/dataset.h
index 61989e221bcc..23120e682f27 100644
--- a/include/LightGBM/dataset.h
+++ b/include/LightGBM/dataset.h
@@ -252,6 +252,8 @@ class Metadata {
 /*! \brief Interface for Parser */
 class Parser {
  public:
+  typedef const char* (*AtofFunc)(const char* p, double* out);
+
   /*! \brief virtual destructor */
   virtual ~Parser() {}
 
@@ -271,9 +273,10 @@ class Parser {
   * \param filename One Filename of data
   * \param num_features Pass num_features of this data file if you know, <=0 means don't know
   * \param label_idx index of label column
+  * \param precise_float_parser using precise floating point number parsing if true
   * \return Object of parser
   */
-  static Parser* CreateParser(const char* filename, bool header, int num_features, int label_idx);
+  static Parser* CreateParser(const char* filename, bool header, int num_features, int label_idx, bool precise_float_parser);
 };
 
 /*! \brief The main class of data set,
diff --git a/src/application/application.cpp b/src/application/application.cpp
index e82cfcada98f..d9a4d7544ebc 100644
--- a/src/application/application.cpp
+++ b/src/application/application.cpp
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ void Application::Predict() {
   if (config_.task == TaskType::KRefitTree) {
     // create predictor
     Predictor predictor(boosting_.get(), 0, -1, false, true, false, false, 1, 1);
-    predictor.Predict(config_.data.c_str(), config_.output_result.c_str(), config_.header, config_.predict_disable_shape_check);
+    predictor.Predict(config_.data.c_str(), config_.output_result.c_str(), config_.header, config_.predict_disable_shape_check,
+                      config_.precise_float_parser);
     TextReader<int> result_reader(config_.output_result.c_str(), false);
     result_reader.ReadAllLines();
     std::vector<std::vector<int>> pred_leaf(result_reader.Lines().size());
@@ -251,7 +252,8 @@ void Application::Predict() {
                         config_.pred_early_stop, config_.pred_early_stop_freq,
                         config_.pred_early_stop_margin);
     predictor.Predict(config_.data.c_str(),
-                      config_.output_result.c_str(), config_.header, config_.predict_disable_shape_check);
+                      config_.output_result.c_str(), config_.header, config_.predict_disable_shape_check,
+                      config_.precise_float_parser);
     Log::Info("Finished prediction");
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/application/predictor.hpp b/src/application/predictor.hpp
index 7c2241b36959..dff23add2df5 100644
--- a/src/application/predictor.hpp
+++ b/src/application/predictor.hpp
@@ -160,13 +160,14 @@ class Predictor {
   * \param data_filename Filename of data
   * \param result_filename Filename of output result
   */
-  void Predict(const char* data_filename, const char* result_filename, bool header, bool disable_shape_check) {
+  void Predict(const char* data_filename, const char* result_filename, bool header, bool disable_shape_check, bool precise_float_parser) {
     auto writer = VirtualFileWriter::Make(result_filename);
     if (!writer->Init()) {
       Log::Fatal("Prediction results file %s cannot be created", result_filename);
     }
     auto label_idx = header ? -1 : boosting_->LabelIdx();
-    auto parser = std::unique_ptr<Parser>(Parser::CreateParser(data_filename, header, boosting_->MaxFeatureIdx() + 1, label_idx));
+    auto parser = std::unique_ptr<Parser>(Parser::CreateParser(data_filename, header, boosting_->MaxFeatureIdx() + 1, label_idx,
+                                                               precise_float_parser));
 
     if (parser == nullptr) {
       Log::Fatal("Could not recognize the data format of data file %s", data_filename);
diff --git a/src/c_api.cpp b/src/c_api.cpp
index b0f828f5072f..3d20d92da70d 100644
--- a/src/c_api.cpp
+++ b/src/c_api.cpp
@@ -709,7 +709,8 @@ class Booster {
     Predictor predictor(boosting_.get(), start_iteration, num_iteration, is_raw_score, is_predict_leaf, predict_contrib,
                         config.pred_early_stop, config.pred_early_stop_freq, config.pred_early_stop_margin);
     bool bool_data_has_header = data_has_header > 0 ? true : false;
-    predictor.Predict(data_filename, result_filename, bool_data_has_header, config.predict_disable_shape_check);
+    predictor.Predict(data_filename, result_filename, bool_data_has_header, config.predict_disable_shape_check,
+                      config.precise_float_parser);
   }
 
   void GetPredictAt(int data_idx, double* out_result, int64_t* out_len) const {
diff --git a/src/io/config_auto.cpp b/src/io/config_auto.cpp
index 06c53e84268a..913c3242a3eb 100644
--- a/src/io/config_auto.cpp
+++ b/src/io/config_auto.cpp
@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@ const std::unordered_set<std::string>& Config::parameter_set() {
   "categorical_feature",
   "forcedbins_filename",
   "save_binary",
+  "precise_float_parser",
   "start_iteration_predict",
   "num_iteration_predict",
   "predict_raw_score",
@@ -525,6 +526,8 @@ void Config::GetMembersFromString(const std::unordered_map<std::string, std::str
 
   GetBool(params, "save_binary", &save_binary);
 
+  GetBool(params, "precise_float_parser", &precise_float_parser);
+
   GetInt(params, "start_iteration_predict", &start_iteration_predict);
 
   GetInt(params, "num_iteration_predict", &num_iteration_predict);
diff --git a/src/io/dataset_loader.cpp b/src/io/dataset_loader.cpp
index 8350520d5369..e9dc995fbbb9 100644
--- a/src/io/dataset_loader.cpp
+++ b/src/io/dataset_loader.cpp
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ Dataset* DatasetLoader::LoadFromFile(const char* filename, int rank, int num_mac
   auto bin_filename = CheckCanLoadFromBin(filename);
   bool is_load_from_binary = false;
   if (bin_filename.size() == 0) {
-    auto parser = std::unique_ptr<Parser>(Parser::CreateParser(filename, config_.header, 0, label_idx_));
+    auto parser = std::unique_ptr<Parser>(Parser::CreateParser(filename, config_.header, 0, label_idx_,
+                                                               config_.precise_float_parser));
     if (parser == nullptr) {
       Log::Fatal("Could not recognize data format of %s", filename);
     }
@@ -267,7 +268,8 @@ Dataset* DatasetLoader::LoadFromFileAlignWithOtherDataset(const char* filename,
   }
   auto bin_filename = CheckCanLoadFromBin(filename);
   if (bin_filename.size() == 0) {
-    auto parser = std::unique_ptr<Parser>(Parser::CreateParser(filename, config_.header, 0, label_idx_));
+    auto parser = std::unique_ptr<Parser>(Parser::CreateParser(filename, config_.header, 0, label_idx_,
+                                                               config_.precise_float_parser));
     if (parser == nullptr) {
       Log::Fatal("Could not recognize data format of %s", filename);
     }
diff --git a/src/io/parser.cpp b/src/io/parser.cpp
index f16c643d1d6a..550c4e13d5c0 100644
--- a/src/io/parser.cpp
+++ b/src/io/parser.cpp
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@
 
 #include <string>
 #include <algorithm>
-#include <fstream>
-#include <functional>
-#include <iostream>
 #include <memory>
 
 namespace LightGBM {
@@ -232,7 +229,7 @@ DataType GetDataType(const char* filename, bool header,
   return type;
 }
 
-Parser* Parser::CreateParser(const char* filename, bool header, int num_features, int label_idx) {
+Parser* Parser::CreateParser(const char* filename, bool header, int num_features, int label_idx, bool precise_float_parser) {
   const int n_read_line = 32;
   auto lines = ReadKLineFromFile(filename, header, n_read_line);
   int num_col = 0;
@@ -242,15 +239,16 @@ Parser* Parser::CreateParser(const char* filename, bool header, int num_features
   }
   std::unique_ptr<Parser> ret;
   int output_label_index = -1;
+  AtofFunc atof = precise_float_parser ? Common::AtofPrecise : Common::Atof;
   if (type == DataType::LIBSVM) {
     output_label_index = GetLabelIdxForLibsvm(lines[0], num_features, label_idx);
-    ret.reset(new LibSVMParser(output_label_index, num_col));
+    ret.reset(new LibSVMParser(output_label_index, num_col, atof));
   } else if (type == DataType::TSV) {
     output_label_index = GetLabelIdxForTSV(lines[0], num_features, label_idx);
-    ret.reset(new TSVParser(output_label_index, num_col));
+    ret.reset(new TSVParser(output_label_index, num_col, atof));
   } else if (type == DataType::CSV) {
     output_label_index = GetLabelIdxForCSV(lines[0], num_features, label_idx);
-    ret.reset(new CSVParser(output_label_index, num_col));
+    ret.reset(new CSVParser(output_label_index, num_col, atof));
   }
 
   if (output_label_index < 0 && label_idx >= 0) {
diff --git a/src/io/parser.hpp b/src/io/parser.hpp
index dad71ed31d0d..531bfad2f2d3 100644
--- a/src/io/parser.hpp
+++ b/src/io/parser.hpp
@@ -15,20 +15,10 @@
 
 namespace LightGBM {
 
-#ifdef USE_PRECISE_TEXT_PARSER
-static const char* TextParserAtof(const char* p, double* out) {
-  return Common::AtofPrecise(p, out);
-}
-#else
-static const char* TextParserAtof(const char* p, double* out) {
-  return Common::Atof(p, out);
-}
-#endif
-
 class CSVParser: public Parser {
  public:
-  explicit CSVParser(int label_idx, int total_columns)
-    :label_idx_(label_idx), total_columns_(total_columns) {
+  explicit CSVParser(int label_idx, int total_columns, AtofFunc atof)
+    :label_idx_(label_idx), total_columns_(total_columns), atof_(atof) {
   }
   inline void ParseOneLine(const char* str,
     std::vector<std::pair<int, double>>* out_features, double* out_label) const override {
@@ -37,7 +27,7 @@ class CSVParser: public Parser {
     int offset = 0;
     *out_label = 0.0f;
     while (*str != '\0') {
-      str = TextParserAtof(str, &val);
+      str = atof_(str, &val);
       if (idx == label_idx_) {
         *out_label = val;
         offset = -1;
@@ -60,12 +50,13 @@ class CSVParser: public Parser {
  private:
   int label_idx_ = 0;
   int total_columns_ = -1;
+  AtofFunc atof_;
 };
 
 class TSVParser: public Parser {
  public:
-  explicit TSVParser(int label_idx, int total_columns)
-    :label_idx_(label_idx), total_columns_(total_columns) {
+  explicit TSVParser(int label_idx, int total_columns, AtofFunc atof)
+    :label_idx_(label_idx), total_columns_(total_columns), atof_(atof) {
   }
   inline void ParseOneLine(const char* str,
     std::vector<std::pair<int, double>>* out_features, double* out_label) const override {
@@ -73,7 +64,7 @@ class TSVParser: public Parser {
     double val = 0.0f;
     int offset = 0;
     while (*str != '\0') {
-      str = TextParserAtof(str, &val);
+      str = atof_(str, &val);
       if (idx == label_idx_) {
         *out_label = val;
         offset = -1;
@@ -96,12 +87,13 @@ class TSVParser: public Parser {
  private:
   int label_idx_ = 0;
   int total_columns_ = -1;
+  AtofFunc atof_;
 };
 
 class LibSVMParser: public Parser {
  public:
-  explicit LibSVMParser(int label_idx, int total_columns)
-    :label_idx_(label_idx), total_columns_(total_columns) {
+  explicit LibSVMParser(int label_idx, int total_columns, AtofFunc atof)
+    :label_idx_(label_idx), total_columns_(total_columns), atof_(atof) {
     if (label_idx > 0) {
       Log::Fatal("Label should be the first column in a LibSVM file");
     }
@@ -111,7 +103,7 @@ class LibSVMParser: public Parser {
     int idx = 0;
     double val = 0.0f;
     if (label_idx_ == 0) {
-      str = TextParserAtof(str, &val);
+      str = atof_(str, &val);
       *out_label = val;
       str = Common::SkipSpaceAndTab(str);
     }
@@ -136,6 +128,7 @@ class LibSVMParser: public Parser {
  private:
   int label_idx_ = 0;
   int total_columns_ = -1;
+  AtofFunc atof_;
 };
 
 }  // namespace LightGBM