diff --git a/axum/CHANGELOG.md b/axum/CHANGELOG.md
index 6f3d9e6b63..4cb60f6717 100644
--- a/axum/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/axum/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - **change:** axum's MSRV is now 1.63 ([#2021])
 - **added:** Implement `Handler` for `T: IntoResponse` ([#2140])
 - **added:** Implement `IntoResponse` for `(R,) where R: IntoResponse` ([#2143])
+- **changed:** For SSE, add space between field and value for compatibility ([#2149])
 
 [#2021]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/axum/pull/2021
 [#2014]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/axum/pull/2014
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 [#2096]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/axum/pull/2096
 [#2140]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/axum/pull/2140
 [#2143]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/axum/pull/2143
+[#2149]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/axum/pull/2149
 
 # 0.6.17 (25. April, 2023)
 
diff --git a/axum/src/response/sse.rs b/axum/src/response/sse.rs
index 679e03d1bf..ad3d38a191 100644
--- a/axum/src/response/sse.rs
+++ b/axum/src/response/sse.rs
@@ -171,9 +171,9 @@ pub struct Event {
 }
 
 impl Event {
-    /// Set the event's data data field(s) (`data:<content>`)
+    /// Set the event's data data field(s) (`data: <content>`)
     ///
-    /// Newlines in `data` will automatically be broken across `data:` fields.
+    /// Newlines in `data` will automatically be broken across `data: ` fields.
     ///
     /// This corresponds to [`MessageEvent`'s data field].
     ///
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ impl Event {
         self
     }
 
-    /// Set the event's data field to a value serialized as unformatted JSON (`data:<content>`).
+    /// Set the event's data field to a value serialized as unformatted JSON (`data: <content>`).
     ///
     /// This corresponds to [`MessageEvent`'s data field].
     ///
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ impl Event {
             panic!("Called `EventBuilder::json_data` multiple times");
         }
 
-        self.buffer.extend_from_slice(b"data:");
+        self.buffer.extend_from_slice(b"data: ");
         serde_json::to_writer((&mut self.buffer).writer(), &data).map_err(axum_core::Error::new)?;
         self.buffer.put_u8(b'\n');
 
@@ -358,10 +358,7 @@ impl Event {
         );
         self.buffer.extend_from_slice(name.as_bytes());
         self.buffer.put_u8(b':');
-        // Prevent values that start with spaces having that space stripped
-        if value.starts_with(b" ") {
-            self.buffer.put_u8(b' ');
-        }
+        self.buffer.put_u8(b' ');
         self.buffer.extend_from_slice(value);
         self.buffer.put_u8(b'\n');
     }
@@ -538,7 +535,7 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn leading_space_is_not_stripped() {
         let no_leading_space = Event::default().data("\tfoobar");
-        assert_eq!(&*no_leading_space.finalize(), b"data:\tfoobar\n\n");
+        assert_eq!(&*no_leading_space.finalize(), b"data: \tfoobar\n\n");
 
         let leading_space = Event::default().data(" foobar");
         assert_eq!(&*leading_space.finalize(), b"data:  foobar\n\n");