diff --git a/src/display_buffer.cc b/src/display_buffer.cc
index 576e5a14..bdd7d68a 100644
--- a/src/display_buffer.cc
+++ b/src/display_buffer.cc
@@ -20,6 +20,32 @@ DisplayLine::iterator DisplayLine::split(iterator it, BufferIterator pos)
     return m_atoms.insert(it, std::move(atom));
 }
 
+void DisplayLine::optimize()
+{
+    for (auto atom_it = m_atoms.begin(); atom_it != m_atoms.end(); ++atom_it)
+    {
+        decltype(atom_it) next_atom_it;
+        while ((next_atom_it = atom_it + 1) != m_atoms.end())
+        {
+            auto& atom = *atom_it;
+            auto& next_atom = *next_atom_it;
+
+            if (atom.fg_color == next_atom.fg_color and
+                atom.bg_color == next_atom.bg_color and
+                atom.attribute == next_atom.attribute and
+                atom.content.type() == AtomContent::BufferRange and
+                next_atom.content.type() == AtomContent::BufferRange and
+                next_atom.content.begin() == atom.content.end())
+            {
+                atom.content.m_end = next_atom.content.end();
+                atom_it = m_atoms.erase(next_atom_it) - 1;
+            }
+            else
+                break;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 void DisplayBuffer::compute_range()
 {
     m_range.first  = BufferIterator();
@@ -42,4 +68,9 @@ void DisplayBuffer::compute_range()
     assert(m_range.first <= m_range.second);
 }
 
+void DisplayBuffer::optimize()
+{
+    for (auto& line : m_lines)
+        line.optimize();
+}
 }
diff --git a/src/display_buffer.hh b/src/display_buffer.hh
index 884d45b0..385ad94b 100644
--- a/src/display_buffer.hh
+++ b/src/display_buffer.hh
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ public:
     iterator insert(iterator it, DisplayAtom atom) { return m_atoms.insert(it, std::move(atom)); }
     void     push_back(DisplayAtom atom) { m_atoms.push_back(std::move(atom)); }
 
+    void     optimize();
 private:
     LineCount m_buffer_line;
     AtomList  m_atoms;
@@ -162,11 +163,11 @@ public:
 
     // returns the smallest BufferIterator range which contains every DisplayAtoms
     const BufferRange& range() const { return m_range; }
+    void optimize();
     void compute_range();
 
 private:
     LineList m_lines;
-
     BufferRange m_range;
 };
 
diff --git a/src/window.cc b/src/window.cc
index 45485dd8..fd3be30a 100644
--- a/src/window.cc
+++ b/src/window.cc
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ void Window::update_display_buffer()
 
     m_display_buffer.compute_range();
     m_highlighters(m_display_buffer);
+    m_display_buffer.optimize();
 }
 
 void Window::set_dimensions(const DisplayCoord& dimensions)