diff --git a/llama.cpp b/llama.cpp
index 16786bff3..436082aca 100644
--- a/llama.cpp
+++ b/llama.cpp
@@ -17177,6 +17177,11 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_prefix(
         }
         return output;
     };
+    auto str_tofirstcap = [](std::string & str) {
+        std::string output(str);
+        output[0] = toupper(output[0]);
+        return output;
+    };
     switch (tmpl) {
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_NOT_SUPPORTED:
             return -1;
@@ -17189,13 +17194,20 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_prefix(
             }
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA2_SYS_BOS:
-            if (!sprev_role.empty()) {
-                ss << "<s>";
+            if (srole == "system") {
+                ss << "[INST] <<SYS>>\n";
+            } else if (srole == "user" && sprev_role != "system") {
+                if (!sprev_role.empty()) {
+                    ss << "<s>";
+                }
+                ss << "[INST] ";
+            } else if (srole == "assistant") {
+                ss << " ";
             }
-            // do not add "break"
+            break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA2_SYS:
             if (srole == "system") {
-                ss << "[INST]<<SYS>>\n";
+                ss << "[INST] <<SYS>>\n";
             } else if (srole == "user" && sprev_role != "system") {
                 ss << "[INST] ";
             }
@@ -17216,15 +17228,16 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_prefix(
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_ORION:
             // for orion, "user" is "human"
             srole = srole == "user" ? "human" : srole;
-            srole[0] = toupper(srole[0]); // upper case for first letter
-            ss << srole << ": ";
+            ss << str_tofirstcap(srole) << ": ";
+            if (srole == "assistant") {
+                ss << "</s>";
+            }
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_OPENCHAT:
             if (srole == "system") {
                 ss << "";
             } else {
-                srole[0] = toupper(srole[0]); // upper case for first letter
-                ss << "GPT4 Correct " << srole << ": ";
+                ss << "GPT4 Correct " << str_tofirstcap(srole) << ": ";
             }
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_VICUNA:
@@ -17250,7 +17263,7 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_prefix(
     }
     std::string output = ss.str();
     snprintf(buf, length, "%s", output.c_str());
-    return output.size() + 1;
+    return output.size();
 }
 
 static int32_t llama_chat_get_postfix(
@@ -17271,14 +17284,18 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_postfix(
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA2:
             if (srole == "user") {
                 ss << " [/INST]";
+            } else if (srole == "assistant") {
+                ss << "</s>";
             }
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA2_SYS_BOS:
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA2_SYS:
             if (srole == "system") {
                 ss << "\n<</SYS>>\n\n";
-            } else {
-                ss << "</s>";
+            } else if (srole == "user") {
+                ss << " [/INST]";
+            } else if (srole == "assistant") {
+                ss << " </s>";
             }
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_ZEPHYR:
@@ -17291,7 +17308,11 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_postfix(
             ss << "<end_of_turn>\n";
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_ORION:
-            ss << "</s>";
+            if (srole == "assistant") {
+                ss << "</s>";
+            } else {
+                ss << "\n\n";
+            }
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_OPENCHAT:
             srole[0] = toupper(srole[0]);
@@ -17299,7 +17320,11 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_postfix(
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_VICUNA:
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_VICUNA_ORCA:
-            ss << "</s>\n";
+            if (srole == "assistant") {
+                ss << "</s>\n";
+            } else {
+                ss << "\n";
+            }
             break;
         case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_DEEPSEEK:
             if (srole == "user") {
@@ -17317,7 +17342,25 @@ static int32_t llama_chat_get_postfix(
     }
     std::string output = ss.str();
     snprintf(buf, length, "%s", output.c_str());
-    return output.size() + 1;
+    return output.size();
+}
+
+static bool llama_chat_support_system_message(const llama_chat_template tmpl) {
+    switch (tmpl) {
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_CHATML:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA2_SYS_BOS:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA2_SYS:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_ZEPHYR:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_MONARCH:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_ORION:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_OPENCHAT:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_VICUNA_ORCA:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_COMMAND_R:
+        case LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_LLAMA3:
+            return true;
+        default:
+            return false;
+    }
 }
 
 LLAMA_API int32_t llama_chat_apply_template(
@@ -17342,6 +17385,7 @@ LLAMA_API int32_t llama_chat_apply_template(
 
     // detect template type
     llama_chat_template ttmpl = llama_chat_get_template_type(curr_tmpl.c_str());
+    bool support_system_message = llama_chat_support_system_message(ttmpl);
     if (ttmpl == LLAMA_CHAT_TEMPLATE_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
         return -1;
     }
@@ -17349,22 +17393,37 @@ LLAMA_API int32_t llama_chat_apply_template(
     // format the chat to string
     std::stringstream ss;
     std::string prev_role;
-    std::vector<char> prefix(1024, 0);
-    std::vector<char> postfix(1024, 0);
     for (size_t i = 0; i < n_msg; i++) {
         std::string role(chat[i].role);
         std::string content(chat[i].content);
+        if (!support_system_message) {
+            // if the template does not support system message, we convert it to user message
+            role = role == "system" ? "user" : role;
+        }
+        std::vector<char> prefix(1024, 0);
+        std::vector<char> postfix(1024, 0);
         llama_chat_get_prefix(ttmpl, role.c_str(), prev_role.c_str(), prefix.data(), prefix.size());
         llama_chat_get_postfix(ttmpl, role.c_str(), prev_role.c_str(), postfix.data(), postfix.size());
-        ss << std::string(prefix.data(), prefix.size()) << content << std::string(postfix.data(), postfix.size());
+        ss << std::string(prefix.data()) << trim(content) << std::string(postfix.data());
         prev_role = role;
     }
 
+    if (add_ass) {
+        std::vector<char> prefix(1024, 0);
+        llama_chat_get_prefix(ttmpl, "assistant", prev_role.c_str(), prefix.data(), prefix.size());
+        std::string assistant_prompt(prefix.data());
+        if (assistant_prompt.back() == ' ') {
+            // Some templates need trailing space to be tokenized with the next word. We should make sure there is no trailing in the output text
+            assistant_prompt.pop_back();
+        }
+        ss << assistant_prompt;
+    }
+
     std::string output = ss.str();
     if (buf && length > 0) {
         snprintf(buf, length, "%s", output.c_str());
     }
-    return output.size() + 1;
+    return output.size();
 }
 
 LLAMA_API int llama_split_path(char * split_path, size_t maxlen, const char * path_prefix, int split_no, int split_count) {
diff --git a/tests/test-chat-template.cpp b/tests/test-chat-template.cpp
index cddf86a41..c2db07257 100644
--- a/tests/test-chat-template.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-chat-template.cpp
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ int main(void) {
         {"user", "Hello"},
         {"assistant", "Hi there"},
         {"user", "Who are you"},
-        {"assistant", "   I am an assistant   "},
+        {"assistant", "I am an assistant"},
         {"user", "Another question"},
     };
     size_t message_count = 6;
@@ -52,27 +52,27 @@ int main(void) {
     };
     std::vector<std::string> expected_output = {
         // teknium/OpenHermes-2.5-Mistral-7B
-        "<|im_start|>system\nYou are a helpful assistant<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nHello<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\nHi there<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nWho are you<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\n   I am an assistant   <|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nAnother question<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\n",
+        "<|im_start|>system\nYou are a helpful assistant<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nHello<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\nHi there<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nWho are you<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\nI am an assistant<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>user\nAnother question<|im_end|>\n<|im_start|>assistant\n",
         // mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2
-        "[INST] You are a helpful assistant\nHello [/INST]Hi there</s>[INST] Who are you [/INST]   I am an assistant   </s>[INST] Another question [/INST]",
+        "[INST] You are a helpful assistant [/INST][INST] Hello [/INST]Hi there</s>[INST] Who are you [/INST]I am an assistant</s>[INST] Another question [/INST]",
         // TheBloke/FusionNet_34Bx2_MoE-AWQ
-        "[INST] <<SYS>>\nYou are a helpful assistant\n<</SYS>>\n\nHello [/INST] Hi there </s><s>[INST] Who are you [/INST]    I am an assistant    </s><s>[INST] Another question [/INST]",
+        "[INST] <<SYS>>\nYou are a helpful assistant\n<</SYS>>\n\nHello [/INST] Hi there </s><s>[INST] Who are you [/INST] I am an assistant </s><s>[INST] Another question [/INST]",
         // bofenghuang/vigogne-2-70b-chat
-        "[INST] <<SYS>>\nYou are a helpful assistant\n<</SYS>>\n\nHello [/INST] Hi there </s>[INST] Who are you [/INST] I am an assistant </s>[INST] Another question [/INST]",
+        "[INST] <<SYS>>\nYou are a helpful assistant\n<</SYS>>\n\nHello [/INST]Hi there </s>[INST] Who are you [/INST]I am an assistant </s>[INST] Another question [/INST]",
         // mlabonne/AlphaMonarch-7B
-        "system\nYou are a helpful assistant</s>\n<s>user\nHello</s>\n<s>assistant\nHi there</s>\n<s>user\nWho are you</s>\n<s>assistant\n   I am an assistant   </s>\n<s>user\nAnother question</s>\n<s>assistant\n",
+        "system\nYou are a helpful assistant</s>\n<s>user\nHello</s>\n<s>assistant\nHi there</s>\n<s>user\nWho are you</s>\n<s>assistant\nI am an assistant</s>\n<s>user\nAnother question</s>\n<s>assistant\n",
         // google/gemma-7b-it
-        "<start_of_turn>user\nYou are a helpful assistant\n\nHello<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>model\nHi there<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>user\nWho are you<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>model\nI am an assistant<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>user\nAnother question<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>model\n",
+        "<start_of_turn>user\nYou are a helpful assistant<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>user\nHello<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>model\nHi there<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>user\nWho are you<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>model\nI am an assistant<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>user\nAnother question<end_of_turn>\n<start_of_turn>model\n",
         // OrionStarAI/Orion-14B-Chat
-        "Human: You are a helpful assistant\n\nHello\n\nAssistant: </s>Hi there</s>Human: Who are you\n\nAssistant: </s>   I am an assistant   </s>Human: Another question\n\nAssistant: </s>",
+        "System: You are a helpful assistant\n\nHuman: Hello\n\nAssistant: </s>Hi there</s>Human: Who are you\n\nAssistant: </s>I am an assistant</s>Human: Another question\n\nAssistant: </s>",
         // openchat/openchat-3.5-0106
-        "You are a helpful assistant<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct User: Hello<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct Assistant: Hi there<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct User: Who are you<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct Assistant:    I am an assistant   <|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct User: Another question<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct Assistant:",
+        "You are a helpful assistant<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct User: Hello<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct Assistant: Hi there<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct User: Who are you<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct Assistant: I am an assistant<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct User: Another question<|end_of_turn|>GPT4 Correct Assistant:",
         // deepseek-ai/deepseek-coder-33b-instruct
-        "You are a helpful assistant### Instruction:\nHello\n### Response:\nHi there\n<|EOT|>\n### Instruction:\nWho are you\n### Response:\n   I am an assistant   \n<|EOT|>\n### Instruction:\nAnother question\n### Response:\n",
+        "### Instruction:\nYou are a helpful assistant\n### Instruction:\nHello\n### Response:\nHi there\n<|EOT|>\n### Instruction:\nWho are you\n### Response:\nI am an assistant\n<|EOT|>\n### Instruction:\nAnother question\n### Response:\n",
         // eachadea/vicuna-13b-1.1
-        "You are a helpful assistant\n\nUSER: Hello\nASSISTANT: Hi there</s>\nUSER: Who are you\nASSISTANT:    I am an assistant   </s>\nUSER: Another question\nASSISTANT:",
+        "USER: You are a helpful assistant\nUSER: Hello\nASSISTANT: Hi there</s>\nUSER: Who are you\nASSISTANT: I am an assistant</s>\nUSER: Another question\nASSISTANT:",
         // Orca-Vicuna
-        "SYSTEM: You are a helpful assistant\nUSER: Hello\nASSISTANT: Hi there</s>\nUSER: Who are you\nASSISTANT:    I am an assistant   </s>\nUSER: Another question\nASSISTANT:",
+        "SYSTEM: You are a helpful assistant\nUSER: Hello\nASSISTANT: Hi there</s>\nUSER: Who are you\nASSISTANT: I am an assistant</s>\nUSER: Another question\nASSISTANT:",
         // CohereForAI/c4ai-command-r-plus
         "<|START_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|SYSTEM_TOKEN|>You are a helpful assistant<|END_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|START_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|USER_TOKEN|>Hello<|END_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|START_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|CHATBOT_TOKEN|>Hi there<|END_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|START_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|USER_TOKEN|>Who are you<|END_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|START_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|CHATBOT_TOKEN|>I am an assistant<|END_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|START_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|USER_TOKEN|>Another question<|END_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|START_OF_TURN_TOKEN|><|CHATBOT_TOKEN|>",
         // Llama 3