diff --git a/build/lib/extensions.js b/build/lib/extensions.js
index d289ccf9107..0a4434bf4e3 100644
--- a/build/lib/extensions.js
+++ b/build/lib/extensions.js
@@ -22,22 +22,28 @@ const fancyLog = require("fancy-log");
 const ansiColors = require("ansi-colors");
 const buffer = require('gulp-buffer');
 const json = require("gulp-json-editor");
+const jsoncParser = require("jsonc-parser");
 const webpack = require('webpack');
 const webpackGulp = require('webpack-stream');
 const util = require('./util');
 const root = path.dirname(path.dirname(__dirname));
 const commit = util.getVersion(root);
 const sourceMappingURLBase = `https://ticino.blob.core.windows.net/sourcemaps/${commit}`;
-function minimizeLanguageJSON(input) {
-    const tmLanguageJsonFilter = filter('**/*.tmLanguage.json', { restore: true });
+function minifyExtensionResources(input) {
+    const jsonFilter = filter(['**/*.json', '**/*.code-snippets'], { restore: true });
     return input
-        .pipe(tmLanguageJsonFilter)
+        .pipe(jsonFilter)
         .pipe(buffer())
         .pipe(es.mapSync((f) => {
-        f.contents = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(f.contents.toString('utf8'))));
+        const errors = [];
+        const value = jsoncParser.parse(f.contents.toString('utf8'), errors);
+        if (errors.length === 0) {
+            // file parsed OK => just stringify to drop whitespace and comments
+            f.contents = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(value));
+        }
         return f;
     }))
-        .pipe(tmLanguageJsonFilter.restore);
+        .pipe(jsonFilter.restore);
 }
 function updateExtensionPackageJSON(input, update) {
     const packageJsonFilter = filter('extensions/*/package.json', { restore: true });
@@ -59,6 +65,9 @@ function fromLocal(extensionPath, forWeb) {
         : fromLocalNormal(extensionPath);
     if (forWeb) {
         input = updateExtensionPackageJSON(input, (data) => {
+            delete data.scripts;
+            delete data.dependencies;
+            delete data.devDependencies;
             if (data.browser) {
                 data.main = data.browser;
             }
@@ -68,13 +77,16 @@ function fromLocal(extensionPath, forWeb) {
     }
     else if (isWebPacked) {
         input = updateExtensionPackageJSON(input, (data) => {
+            delete data.scripts;
+            delete data.dependencies;
+            delete data.devDependencies;
             if (data.main) {
                 data.main = data.main.replace('/out/', /dist/);
             }
             return data;
         });
     }
-    return minimizeLanguageJSON(input);
+    return input;
 }
 function fromLocalWebpack(extensionPath, webpackConfigFileName) {
     const result = es.through();
@@ -215,8 +227,8 @@ function packageLocalExtensionsStream() {
             .pipe(rename(p => p.dirname = `extensions/${extension.name}/${p.dirname}`));
     });
     const nodeModules = gulp.src('extensions/node_modules/**', { base: '.' });
-    return es.merge(nodeModules, ...localExtensions)
-        .pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh']));
+    return minifyExtensionResources(es.merge(nodeModules, ...localExtensions)
+        .pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh'])));
 }
 exports.packageLocalExtensionsStream = packageLocalExtensionsStream;
 function packageLocalWebExtensionsStream() {
@@ -230,10 +242,10 @@ function packageLocalWebExtensionsStream() {
         const extensionName = path.basename(extensionPath);
         return { name: extensionName, path: extensionPath };
     });
-    return es.merge(...localExtensionDescriptions.map(extension => {
+    return minifyExtensionResources(es.merge(...localExtensionDescriptions.map(extension => {
         return fromLocal(extension.path, true)
             .pipe(rename(p => p.dirname = `extensions/${extension.name}/${p.dirname}`));
-    }));
+    })));
 }
 exports.packageLocalWebExtensionsStream = packageLocalWebExtensionsStream;
 function packageMarketplaceExtensionsStream() {
@@ -241,8 +253,8 @@ function packageMarketplaceExtensionsStream() {
         return fromMarketplace(extension.name, extension.version, extension.metadata)
             .pipe(rename(p => p.dirname = `extensions/${extension.name}/${p.dirname}`));
     });
-    return es.merge(extensions)
-        .pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh']));
+    return minifyExtensionResources(es.merge(extensions)
+        .pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh'])));
 }
 exports.packageMarketplaceExtensionsStream = packageMarketplaceExtensionsStream;
 function packageMarketplaceWebExtensionsStream(builtInExtensions) {
@@ -258,7 +270,7 @@ function packageMarketplaceWebExtensionsStream(builtInExtensions) {
             return data;
         });
     });
-    return es.merge(extensions);
+    return minifyExtensionResources(es.merge(extensions));
 }
 exports.packageMarketplaceWebExtensionsStream = packageMarketplaceWebExtensionsStream;
 function scanBuiltinExtensions(extensionsRoot, forWeb) {
diff --git a/build/lib/extensions.ts b/build/lib/extensions.ts
index 3810723d7d4..e41cc473e3c 100644
--- a/build/lib/extensions.ts
+++ b/build/lib/extensions.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import * as fancyLog from 'fancy-log';
 import * as ansiColors from 'ansi-colors';
 const buffer = require('gulp-buffer');
 import json = require('gulp-json-editor');
+import * as jsoncParser from 'jsonc-parser';
 const webpack = require('webpack');
 const webpackGulp = require('webpack-stream');
 const util = require('./util');
@@ -28,16 +29,21 @@ const root = path.dirname(path.dirname(__dirname));
 const commit = util.getVersion(root);
 const sourceMappingURLBase = `https://ticino.blob.core.windows.net/sourcemaps/${commit}`;
 
-function minimizeLanguageJSON(input: Stream): Stream {
-	const tmLanguageJsonFilter = filter('**/*.tmLanguage.json', { restore: true });
+function minifyExtensionResources(input: Stream): Stream {
+	const jsonFilter = filter(['**/*.json', '**/*.code-snippets'], { restore: true });
 	return input
-		.pipe(tmLanguageJsonFilter)
+		.pipe(jsonFilter)
 		.pipe(buffer())
 		.pipe(es.mapSync((f: File) => {
-			f.contents = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(f.contents.toString('utf8'))));
+			const errors: jsoncParser.ParseError[] = [];
+			const value = jsoncParser.parse(f.contents.toString('utf8'), errors);
+			if (errors.length === 0) {
+				// file parsed OK => just stringify to drop whitespace and comments
+				f.contents = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(value));
+			}
 			return f;
 		}))
-		.pipe(tmLanguageJsonFilter.restore);
+		.pipe(jsonFilter.restore);
 }
 
 function updateExtensionPackageJSON(input: Stream, update: (data: any) => any): Stream {
@@ -63,6 +69,9 @@ function fromLocal(extensionPath: string, forWeb: boolean): Stream {
 
 	if (forWeb) {
 		input = updateExtensionPackageJSON(input, (data: any) => {
+			delete data.scripts;
+			delete data.dependencies;
+			delete data.devDependencies;
 			if (data.browser) {
 				data.main = data.browser;
 			}
@@ -71,6 +80,9 @@ function fromLocal(extensionPath: string, forWeb: boolean): Stream {
 		});
 	} else if (isWebPacked) {
 		input = updateExtensionPackageJSON(input, (data: any) => {
+			delete data.scripts;
+			delete data.dependencies;
+			delete data.devDependencies;
 			if (data.main) {
 				data.main = data.main.replace('/out/', /dist/);
 			}
@@ -78,7 +90,7 @@ function fromLocal(extensionPath: string, forWeb: boolean): Stream {
 		});
 	}
 
-	return minimizeLanguageJSON(input);
+	return input;
 }
 
 
@@ -243,7 +255,7 @@ interface IBuiltInExtension {
 
 const builtInExtensions: IBuiltInExtension[] = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '../../product.json'), 'utf8')).builtInExtensions;
 
-export function packageLocalExtensionsStream(): NodeJS.ReadWriteStream {
+export function packageLocalExtensionsStream(): Stream {
 	const localExtensionDescriptions = (<string[]>glob.sync('extensions/*/package.json'))
 		.map(manifestPath => {
 			const extensionPath = path.dirname(path.join(root, manifestPath));
@@ -260,11 +272,13 @@ export function packageLocalExtensionsStream(): NodeJS.ReadWriteStream {
 	});
 
 	const nodeModules = gulp.src('extensions/node_modules/**', { base: '.' });
-	return es.merge(nodeModules, ...localExtensions)
-		.pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh']));
+	return minifyExtensionResources(
+		es.merge(nodeModules, ...localExtensions)
+		.pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh']))
+	);
 }
 
-export function packageLocalWebExtensionsStream(): NodeJS.ReadWriteStream {
+export function packageLocalWebExtensionsStream(): Stream {
 	const localExtensionDescriptions = (<string[]>glob.sync('extensions/*/package.json'))
 		.filter(manifestPath => {
 			const packageJsonConfig = require(path.join(root, manifestPath));
@@ -276,23 +290,27 @@ export function packageLocalWebExtensionsStream(): NodeJS.ReadWriteStream {
 			return { name: extensionName, path: extensionPath };
 		});
 
-	return es.merge(...localExtensionDescriptions.map(extension => {
-		return fromLocal(extension.path, true)
-			.pipe(rename(p => p.dirname = `extensions/${extension.name}/${p.dirname}`));
-	}));
+	return minifyExtensionResources(
+		es.merge(...localExtensionDescriptions.map(extension => {
+			return fromLocal(extension.path, true)
+				.pipe(rename(p => p.dirname = `extensions/${extension.name}/${p.dirname}`));
+		}))
+	);
 }
 
-export function packageMarketplaceExtensionsStream(): NodeJS.ReadWriteStream {
+export function packageMarketplaceExtensionsStream(): Stream {
 	const extensions = builtInExtensions.map(extension => {
 		return fromMarketplace(extension.name, extension.version, extension.metadata)
 			.pipe(rename(p => p.dirname = `extensions/${extension.name}/${p.dirname}`));
 	});
 
-	return es.merge(extensions)
-		.pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh']));
+	return minifyExtensionResources(
+		es.merge(extensions)
+		.pipe(util2.setExecutableBit(['**/*.sh']))
+	);
 }
 
-export function packageMarketplaceWebExtensionsStream(builtInExtensions: IBuiltInExtension[]): NodeJS.ReadWriteStream {
+export function packageMarketplaceWebExtensionsStream(builtInExtensions: IBuiltInExtension[]): Stream {
 	const extensions = builtInExtensions
 		.map(extension => {
 			const input = fromMarketplace(extension.name, extension.version, extension.metadata)
@@ -305,7 +323,9 @@ export function packageMarketplaceWebExtensionsStream(builtInExtensions: IBuiltI
 				return data;
 			});
 		});
-	return es.merge(extensions);
+	return minifyExtensionResources(
+		es.merge(extensions)
+	);
 }
 
 export interface IScannedBuiltinExtension {
@@ -336,7 +356,7 @@ export function scanBuiltinExtensions(extensionsRoot: string, forWeb: boolean):
 
 		if (packageNLS) {
 			// temporary
-			packageJSON = translatePackageJSON(packageJSON, path.join(extensionsRoot, extensionFolder, packageNLS))
+			packageJSON = translatePackageJSON(packageJSON, path.join(extensionsRoot, extensionFolder, packageNLS));
 		}
 		scannedExtensions.push({
 			extensionPath: extensionFolder,
diff --git a/build/package.json b/build/package.json
index 22206229ffb..5cf6fe5202b 100644
--- a/build/package.json
+++ b/build/package.json
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
     "gulp-sourcemaps": "^1.11.0",
     "gulp-uglify": "^3.0.0",
     "iconv-lite-umd": "0.6.8",
+    "jsonc-parser": "^2.3.0",
     "mime": "^1.3.4",
     "minimatch": "3.0.4",
     "minimist": "^1.2.3",
diff --git a/build/yarn.lock b/build/yarn.lock
index 79909133c5b..94529f13ba0 100644
--- a/build/yarn.lock
+++ b/build/yarn.lock
@@ -1600,6 +1600,11 @@ json-stringify-safe@~5.0.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/json-stringify-safe/-/json-stringify-safe-5.0.1.tgz#1296a2d58fd45f19a0f6ce01d65701e2c735b6eb"
   integrity sha1-Epai1Y/UXxmg9s4B1lcB4sc1tus=
 
+jsonc-parser@^2.3.0:
+  version "2.3.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/jsonc-parser/-/jsonc-parser-2.3.0.tgz#7c7fc988ee1486d35734faaaa866fadb00fa91ee"
+  integrity sha512-b0EBt8SWFNnixVdvoR2ZtEGa9ZqLhbJnOjezn+WP+8kspFm+PFYDN8Z4Bc7pRlDjvuVcADSUkroIuTWWn/YiIA==
+
 jsonfile@^4.0.0:
   version "4.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/jsonfile/-/jsonfile-4.0.0.tgz#8771aae0799b64076b76640fca058f9c10e33ecb"