diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c b/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c
index 8b1ba4b725e3..a9f974e5fb85 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c
@@ -999,7 +999,11 @@ static void btf_dump_emit_struct_def(struct btf_dump *d,
 	if (is_struct)
 		btf_dump_emit_bit_padding(d, off, t->size * 8, align, false, lvl + 1);
 
-	if (vlen)
+	/*
+	 * Keep `struct empty {}` on a single line,
+	 * only print newline when there are regular or padding fields.
+	 */
+	if (vlen || t->size)
 		btf_dump_printf(d, "\n");
 	btf_dump_printf(d, "%s}", pfx(lvl));
 	if (packed)