diff --git a/misc/output_test.py b/misc/output_test.py
index f48968bc9a..81e49067c8 100755
--- a/misc/output_test.py
+++ b/misc/output_test.py
@@ -39,8 +39,29 @@ def run(
         self,
         flags: str = '',
         pipe: bool = False,
+        raw_output: bool = False,
         env: Dict[str, str] = default_env,
     ) -> str:
+        """Run Ninja command, and get filtered output.
+
+        Args:
+          flags: Extra arguments passed to Ninja.
+
+          pipe: set to True to run Ninja in a non-interactive terminal.
+            If False (the default), this runs Ninja in a pty to simulate
+            a smart terminal (this feature cannot work on Windows!).
+
+          raw_output: set to True to return the raw, unfiltered command
+            output.
+
+          env: Optional environment dictionary to run the command in.
+
+        Returns:
+          A UTF-8 string corresponding to the output (stdout only) of the
+          Ninja command. By default, partial lines that were overwritten
+          are removed according to the rules described in the comments
+          below.
+        """
         ninja_cmd = '{} {}'.format(NINJA_PATH, flags)
         try:
             if pipe:
@@ -55,21 +76,55 @@ def run(
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError as err:
             sys.stdout.buffer.write(err.output)
             raise err
-        final_output = ''
-        for line in output.decode('utf-8').splitlines(True):
-            if len(line) > 0 and line[-1] == '\r':
-                continue
-            final_output += line.replace('\r', '')
-        return final_output
+
+        if raw_output:
+            return output.decode('utf-8')
+
+        # When running in a smart terminal, Ninja uses CR (\r) to
+        # return the cursor to the start of the current line, prints
+        # something, then uses `\x1b[K` to clear everything until
+        # the end of the line.
+        #
+        # Thus printing 'FOO', 'BAR', 'ZOO' on the same line, then
+        # jumping to the next one results in the following output
+        # on Posix:
+        #
+        # '\rFOO\x1b[K\rBAR\x1b[K\rZOO\x1b[K\r\n'
+        #
+        # The following splits the output at both \r, \n and \r\n
+        # boundaries, which gives:
+        #
+        #  [ '\r', 'FOO\x1b[K\r', 'BAR\x1b[K\r', 'ZOO\x1b[K\r\n' ]
+        #
+        decoded_lines = output.decode('utf-8').splitlines(True)
+
+        # Remove any item that ends with a '\r' as this means its
+        # content will be overwritten by the next item in the list.
+        # For the previous example, this gives:
+        #
+        #  [ 'ZOO\x1b[K\r\n' ]
+        #
+        final_lines = [ l for l in decoded_lines if not l.endswith('\r') ]
+
+        # Return a single string that concatenates all filtered lines
+        # while removing any remaining \r in it. Needed to transform
+        # \r\n into \n.
+        #
+        #  "ZOO\x1b[K\n'
+        #
+        return ''.join(final_lines).replace('\r', '')
 
 def run(
     build_ninja: str,
     flags: str = '',
     pipe: bool = False,
+    raw_output: bool = False,
     env: Dict[str, str] = default_env,
 ) -> str:
+    """Run Ninja with a given build plan in a temporary directory.
+    """
     with BuildDir(build_ninja) as b:
-        return b.run(flags, pipe, env)
+        return b.run(flags, pipe, raw_output, env)
 
 @unittest.skipIf(platform.system() == 'Windows', 'These test methods do not work on Windows')
 class Output(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -149,6 +204,29 @@ def test_issue_1966(self) -> None:
 '''[1/1] cat cat.rsp cat.rsp > a\x1b[K
 ''')
 
+    def test_issue_2499(self) -> None:
+        # This verifies that Ninja prints its status line updates on a single
+        # line when running in a smart terminal, and when commands do not have
+        # any output. Get the raw command output which includes CR (\r) codes
+        # and all content that was printed by Ninja.
+        self.assertEqual(run(
+'''rule touch
+  command = touch $out
+
+build foo: touch
+build bar: touch foo
+build zoo: touch bar
+''', flags='-j1 zoo', raw_output=True).split('\r'),
+            [
+                '',
+                '[0/3] touch foo\x1b[K',
+                '[1/3] touch foo\x1b[K',
+                '[1/3] touch bar\x1b[K',
+                '[2/3] touch bar\x1b[K',
+                '[2/3] touch zoo\x1b[K',
+                '[3/3] touch zoo\x1b[K',
+                '\n',
+            ])
 
     def test_pr_1685(self) -> None:
         # Running those tools without .ninja_deps and .ninja_log shouldn't fail.
diff --git a/src/status_printer.cc b/src/status_printer.cc
index 62c7d7a9d2..8db6809561 100644
--- a/src/status_printer.cc
+++ b/src/status_printer.cc
@@ -216,34 +216,36 @@ void StatusPrinter::BuildEdgeFinished(Edge* edge, int64_t start_time_millis,
     printer_.PrintOnNewLine(edge->EvaluateCommand() + "\n");
   }
 
+  if (!output.empty()) {
 #ifdef _WIN32
-  // Fix extra CR being added on Windows, writing out CR CR LF (#773)
-  fflush(stdout);  // Begin Windows extra CR fix
-  _setmode(_fileno(stdout), _O_BINARY);
+    // Fix extra CR being added on Windows, writing out CR CR LF (#773)
+    fflush(stdout);  // Begin Windows extra CR fix
+    _setmode(_fileno(stdout), _O_BINARY);
 #endif
 
-  // ninja sets stdout and stderr of subprocesses to a pipe, to be able to
-  // check if the output is empty. Some compilers, e.g. clang, check
-  // isatty(stderr) to decide if they should print colored output.
-  // To make it possible to use colored output with ninja, subprocesses should
-  // be run with a flag that forces them to always print color escape codes.
-  // To make sure these escape codes don't show up in a file if ninja's output
-  // is piped to a file, ninja strips ansi escape codes again if it's not
-  // writing to a |smart_terminal_|.
-  // (Launching subprocesses in pseudo ttys doesn't work because there are
-  // only a few hundred available on some systems, and ninja can launch
-  // thousands of parallel compile commands.)
-  if (printer_.supports_color() || output.find('\x1b') == std::string::npos) {
-    printer_.PrintOnNewLine(output);
-  } else {
-    std::string final_output = StripAnsiEscapeCodes(output);
-    printer_.PrintOnNewLine(final_output);
-  }
+    // ninja sets stdout and stderr of subprocesses to a pipe, to be able to
+    // check if the output is empty. Some compilers, e.g. clang, check
+    // isatty(stderr) to decide if they should print colored output.
+    // To make it possible to use colored output with ninja, subprocesses should
+    // be run with a flag that forces them to always print color escape codes.
+    // To make sure these escape codes don't show up in a file if ninja's output
+    // is piped to a file, ninja strips ansi escape codes again if it's not
+    // writing to a |smart_terminal_|.
+    // (Launching subprocesses in pseudo ttys doesn't work because there are
+    // only a few hundred available on some systems, and ninja can launch
+    // thousands of parallel compile commands.)
+    if (printer_.supports_color() || output.find('\x1b') == std::string::npos) {
+      printer_.PrintOnNewLine(output);
+    } else {
+      std::string final_output = StripAnsiEscapeCodes(output);
+      printer_.PrintOnNewLine(final_output);
+    }
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
-  fflush(stdout);
-  _setmode(_fileno(stdout), _O_TEXT);  // End Windows extra CR fix
+    fflush(stdout);
+    _setmode(_fileno(stdout), _O_TEXT);  // End Windows extra CR fix
 #endif
+  }
 }
 
 void StatusPrinter::BuildStarted() {