diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 77432fdb..172d2710 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -132,6 +132,13 @@ will appear larger than 1cm in browser units.
 - MathJax supports Unicode text characters in math mode, unlike LaTeX.
   To support this behavior in KaTeX, set the `unicodeTextInMathMode` option
   to `true`.
+- KaTeX breaks lines with `\\` and `\newline` in inline math, but ignores them
+  in display math (matching LaTeX's behavior, but not MathJax's behavior).
+  To allow `\\` and `\newline` to break lines in display mode,
+  add the following CSS rule:
+  ```css
+  .katex-display > .katex > .katex-html > .newline { display: block !important; }
+  ```
 
 ## Libraries
 
diff --git a/src/ParseNode.js b/src/ParseNode.js
index 3b74107a..a999431c 100644
--- a/src/ParseNode.js
+++ b/src/ParseNode.js
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ type ParseNodeTypes = {
     |},
     "cr": {|
         type: "cr",
+        //newRow: boolean,
+        newLine: boolean,
         size: ?ParseNode<*>,
     |},
     "delimsizing": {|
diff --git a/src/Parser.js b/src/Parser.js
index c2951788..66b95ddd 100644
--- a/src/Parser.js
+++ b/src/Parser.js
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ export default class Parser {
         return expression;
     }
 
-    static endOfExpression = ["}", "\\end", "\\right", "&", "\\\\", "\\cr"];
+    static endOfExpression = ["}", "\\end", "\\right", "&", "\\cr"];
 
     /**
      * Parses an "expression", which is a list of atoms.
diff --git a/src/buildHTML.js b/src/buildHTML.js
index ca5f410a..b54d6a85 100644
--- a/src/buildHTML.js
+++ b/src/buildHTML.js
@@ -700,6 +700,15 @@ export default function buildHTML(tree, options) {
                 htmlNode.children.push(buildHTMLUnbreakable(parts, options));
                 parts = [];
             }
+        } else if (expression[i].hasClass("newline")) {
+            // Write the line except the newline
+            parts.pop();
+            if (parts.length > 0) {
+                htmlNode.children.push(buildHTMLUnbreakable(parts, options));
+                parts = [];
+            }
+            // Put the newline at the top level
+            htmlNode.children.push(expression[i]);
         }
     }
     if (parts.length > 0) {
diff --git a/src/defineFunction.js b/src/defineFunction.js
index d3762974..55fcf773 100644
--- a/src/defineFunction.js
+++ b/src/defineFunction.js
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ export type FunctionSpec<NODETYPE: NodeType> = {|
 
     // FLOW TYPE NOTES: Doing either one of the following two
     //
-    // - removing the NOTETYPE type parameter in FunctionSpec above;
+    // - removing the NODETYPE type parameter in FunctionSpec above;
     // - using ?FunctionHandler<NODETYPE> below;
     //
     // results in a confusing flow typing error:
diff --git a/src/environments/array.js b/src/environments/array.js
index 61929c23..e7f5291d 100644
--- a/src/environments/array.js
+++ b/src/environments/array.js
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ function parseArray(
     numHLinesBeforeRow.push(getNumHLines(parser));
 
     while (true) {  // eslint-disable-line no-constant-condition
-        let cell = parser.parseExpression(false, undefined);
+        let cell = parser.parseExpression(false, "\\\\");
         cell = new ParseNode("ordgroup", cell, parser.mode);
         if (style) {
             cell = new ParseNode("styling", {
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ function parseArray(
             row = [];
             body.push(row);
         } else {
-            throw new ParseError("Expected & or \\\\ or \\end",
+            throw new ParseError("Expected & or \\\\ or \\cr or \\end",
                                  parser.nextToken);
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/functions.js b/src/functions.js
index ca36276c..dac059ac 100644
--- a/src/functions.js
+++ b/src/functions.js
@@ -270,18 +270,8 @@ defineFunction("infix", ["\\over", "\\choose", "\\atop"], {
     };
 });
 
-// Row breaks for aligned data
-defineFunction("cr", ["\\\\", "\\cr"], {
-    numArgs: 0,
-    numOptionalArgs: 1,
-    argTypes: ["size"],
-}, function(context, args, optArgs) {
-    const size = optArgs[0];
-    return {
-        type: "cr",
-        size: size,
-    };
-});
+// Row and line breaks
+import "./functions/cr";
 
 // Environment delimiters
 defineFunction("environment", ["\\begin", "\\end"], {
diff --git a/src/functions/cr.js b/src/functions/cr.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..db55ae09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/functions/cr.js
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+//@flow
+// Row breaks within tabular environments, and line breaks at top level
+
+import defineFunction from "../defineFunction";
+import buildCommon from "../buildCommon";
+import mathMLTree from "../mathMLTree";
+import { calculateSize } from "../units";
+import ParseError from "../ParseError";
+
+defineFunction({
+    type: "cr",
+    names: ["\\\\", "\\cr", "\\newline"],
+    props: {
+        numArgs: 0,
+        numOptionalArgs: 1,
+        argTypes: ["size"],
+        allowedInText: true,
+    },
+
+    handler: (context, args, optArgs) => {
+        return {
+            type: "cr",
+            // \\ and \cr both end the row in a tabular environment
+            // This flag isn't currently needed by environments/array.js
+            //newRow: context.funcName !== "\\newline",
+            // \\ and \newline both end the line in an inline math environment
+            newLine: context.funcName !== "\\cr",
+            size: optArgs[0],
+        };
+    },
+
+    // The following builders are called only at the top level,
+    // not within tabular environments.
+
+    htmlBuilder: (group, options) => {
+        if (!group.value.newLine) {
+            throw new ParseError(
+                "\\cr valid only within a tabular environment");
+        }
+        const span = buildCommon.makeSpan(["mspace", "newline"], [], options);
+        if (group.value.size) {
+            span.style.marginTop =
+                calculateSize(group.value.size.value, options) + "em";
+        }
+        return span;
+    },
+
+    mathmlBuilder: (group, options) => {
+        const node = new mathMLTree.MathNode("mspace");
+        node.setAttribute("linebreak", "newline");
+        if (group.value.size) {
+            node.setAttribute("height",
+                calculateSize(group.value.size.value, options) + "em");
+        }
+        return node;
+    },
+});
diff --git a/src/katex.less b/src/katex.less
index b62c5acf..1492040c 100644
--- a/src/katex.less
+++ b/src/katex.less
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@
 
         > .katex-html {
             display: inline-block;
+
+            /* \newline doesn't do anything in display mode */
+            > .newline {
+                display: none;
+            }
         }
     }
 }
@@ -60,6 +65,13 @@
         overflow: hidden;
     }
 
+    .katex-html {
+        /* \newline is an empty block at top level of inline mode */
+        > .newline {
+            display: block;
+        }
+    }
+
     .base {
         position: relative;
         display: inline-block;
diff --git a/src/types.js b/src/types.js
index 48887b12..779a911e 100644
--- a/src/types.js
+++ b/src/types.js
@@ -24,4 +24,4 @@ export type ArgType = "color" | "size" | "url" | "original" | Mode;
 export type StyleStr = "text" | "display" | "script" | "scriptscript";
 
 // Allowable token text for "break" arguments in parser
-export type BreakToken = "]" | "}" | "$" | "\\)";
+export type BreakToken = "]" | "}" | "$" | "\\)" | "\\\\";
diff --git a/test/errors-spec.js b/test/errors-spec.js
index 864b0d84..7fcb059f 100644
--- a/test/errors-spec.js
+++ b/test/errors-spec.js
@@ -208,10 +208,6 @@ describe("Parser.expect calls:", function() {
                    "Expected 'EOF', got '\\end' at position 2:" +
                    " x\\̲e̲n̲d̲{matrix}");
         });
-        it("complains about top-level \\\\", function() {
-            expect("1\\\\2").toFailWithParseError(
-                   "Expected 'EOF', got '\\\\' at position 2: 1\\̲\\̲2");
-        });
         it("complains about top-level &", function() {
             expect("1&2").toFailWithParseError(
                    "Expected 'EOF', got '&' at position 2: 1&̲2");
@@ -292,12 +288,12 @@ describe("environments.js:", function() {
     describe("parseArray", function() {
         it("rejects missing \\end", function() {
             expect("\\begin{matrix}1").toFailWithParseError(
-                   "Expected & or \\\\ or \\end at end of input:" +
+                   "Expected & or \\\\ or \\cr or \\end at end of input:" +
                    " \\begin{matrix}1");
         });
         it("rejects incorrectly scoped \\end", function() {
             expect("{\\begin{matrix}1}\\end{matrix}").toFailWithParseError(
-                   "Expected & or \\\\ or \\end at position 17:" +
+                   "Expected & or \\\\ or \\cr or \\end at position 17:" +
                    " …\\begin{matrix}1}̲\\end{matrix}");
         });
     });
diff --git a/test/katex-spec.js b/test/katex-spec.js
index e629dc62..81f4d11d 100644
--- a/test/katex-spec.js
+++ b/test/katex-spec.js
@@ -3126,6 +3126,18 @@ describe("The \\mathchoice function", function() {
     });
 });
 
+describe("Newlines via \\\\ and \\newline", function() {
+    it("should build \\\\ and \\newline the same", () => {
+        expect("hello \\\\ world").toBuildLike("hello \\newline world");
+        expect("hello \\\\[1ex] world").toBuildLike(
+            "hello \\newline[1ex] world");
+    });
+
+    it("should not allow \\cr at top level", () => {
+        expect("hello \\cr world").toNotParse();
+    });
+});
+
 describe("Symbols", function() {
     it("should parse \\text{\\i\\j}", () => {
         expect("\\text{\\i\\j}").toBuild();
diff --git a/test/screenshotter/images/NewLine-chrome.png b/test/screenshotter/images/NewLine-chrome.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d3ffb800
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/screenshotter/images/NewLine-chrome.png differ
diff --git a/test/screenshotter/images/NewLine-firefox.png b/test/screenshotter/images/NewLine-firefox.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..29397e0c
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/screenshotter/images/NewLine-firefox.png differ
diff --git a/test/screenshotter/ss_data.yaml b/test/screenshotter/ss_data.yaml
index 99f18d1a..fc7620ac 100644
--- a/test/screenshotter/ss_data.yaml
+++ b/test/screenshotter/ss_data.yaml
@@ -207,6 +207,14 @@ NegativeSpace:
 NestedFractions: |
     \dfrac{\frac{a}{b}}{\frac{c}{d}}\dfrac{\dfrac{a}{b}}
     {\dfrac{c}{d}}\frac{\frac{a}{b}}{\frac{c}{d}}
+NewLine: |
+    \frac{a^2+b^2}{c^2} \newline
+    \frac{a^2+b^2}{c^2} \\[1ex]
+    \begin{pmatrix}
+        a & b \\
+        c & d \cr
+    \end{pmatrix} \\
+    a+b+c+{d+\\e}+f+g
 Not: |
     \begin{array}{l}
         \not=\not>\not\geq\not\in\not<\not\leq\not{abc} \\