diff --git a/gradle/changelog/show_empty_file.yaml b/gradle/changelog/show_empty_file.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1a20aa9226
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gradle/changelog/show_empty_file.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+- type: Fixed
+  description: Show empty files instead of endless loading spinner ([#1762](https://github.com/scm-manager/scm-manager/pull/1762))
diff --git a/scm-ui/ui-webapp/src/repos/sources/components/content/SourcecodeViewer.tsx b/scm-ui/ui-webapp/src/repos/sources/components/content/SourcecodeViewer.tsx
index 1f86a781ae..5e72c3dab7 100644
--- a/scm-ui/ui-webapp/src/repos/sources/components/content/SourcecodeViewer.tsx
+++ b/scm-ui/ui-webapp/src/repos/sources/components/content/SourcecodeViewer.tsx
@@ -41,13 +41,13 @@ const SourcecodeViewer: FC<Props> = ({ file, language }) => {
     return <ErrorNotification error={error} />;
   }
 
-  if (!content || isLoading) {
+  if (isLoading) {
     return <Loading />;
   }
 
   const permalink = replaceBranchWithRevision(location.pathname, file.revision);
 
-  return <SyntaxHighlighter language={language.toLowerCase()} value={content} permalink={permalink} />;
+  return <SyntaxHighlighter language={language.toLowerCase()} value={content || ""} permalink={permalink} />;
 };
 
 export default SourcecodeViewer;