diff --git a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/CLITool.kt b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/CLITool.kt
index 7e964e92695..aa7139260d7 100644
--- a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/CLITool.kt
+++ b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/CLITool.kt
@@ -142,6 +142,9 @@ abstract class CLITool<A : CommonToolArguments> {
             if (System.getProperty("java.awt.headless") == null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.awt.headless", "true")
             }
+            if (System.getProperty(PlainTextMessageRenderer.KOTLIN_COLORS_ENABLED_PROPERTY) == null) {
+                System.setProperty(PlainTextMessageRenderer.KOTLIN_COLORS_ENABLED_PROPERTY, "true")
+            }
             val exitCode = doMainNoExit(compiler, args)
             if (exitCode != ExitCode.OK) {
                 System.exit(exitCode.code)
diff --git a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/messages/PlainTextMessageRenderer.java b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/messages/PlainTextMessageRenderer.java
index 03edd893fd1..7471c8c1e03 100644
--- a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/messages/PlainTextMessageRenderer.java
+++ b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/messages/PlainTextMessageRenderer.java
@@ -30,12 +30,13 @@ import java.util.Set;
 import static org.jetbrains.kotlin.cli.common.messages.CompilerMessageSeverity.*;
 
 public abstract class PlainTextMessageRenderer implements MessageRenderer {
+    public static final String KOTLIN_COLORS_ENABLED_PROPERTY = "kotlin.colors.enabled";
     public static final boolean COLOR_ENABLED;
 
     static {
         boolean colorEnabled = false;
         // TODO: investigate why ANSI escape codes on Windows only work in REPL for some reason
-        if (!SystemInfo.isWindows && !"false".equals(System.getProperty("kotlin.colors.enabled"))) {
+        if (!SystemInfo.isWindows && "true".equals(System.getProperty(KOTLIN_COLORS_ENABLED_PROPERTY))) {
             try {
                 // AnsiConsole doesn't check isatty() for stderr (see https://github.com/fusesource/jansi/pull/35).
                 colorEnabled = CLibrary.isatty(CLibrary.STDERR_FILENO) != 0;