diff --git a/daemon/logger/syslog/syslog.go b/daemon/logger/syslog/syslog.go
index f6861947a6..99e03278ce 100644
--- a/daemon/logger/syslog/syslog.go
+++ b/daemon/logger/syslog/syslog.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"path"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	syslog "github.com/RackSec/srslog"
 
@@ -64,6 +65,17 @@ func init() {
 	}
 }
 
+// rsyslog uses appname part of syslog message to fill in an %syslogtag% template
+// attribute in rsyslog.conf. In order to be backward compatible to rfc3164
+// tag will be also used as an appname
+func rfc5424formatterWithAppNameAsTag(p syslog.Priority, hostname, tag, content string) string {
+	timestamp := time.Now().Format(time.RFC3339)
+	pid := os.Getpid()
+	msg := fmt.Sprintf("<%d>%d %s %s %s %d %s %s",
+		p, 1, timestamp, hostname, tag, pid, tag, content)
+	return msg
+}
+
 // New creates a syslog logger using the configuration passed in on
 // the context. Supported context configuration variables are
 // syslog-address, syslog-facility, & syslog-tag.
@@ -83,6 +95,11 @@ func New(ctx logger.Context) (logger.Logger, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	syslogFormatter, syslogFramer, err := parseLogFormat(ctx.Config["syslog-format"])
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	logTag := path.Base(os.Args[0]) + "/" + tag
 
 	var log *syslog.Writer
@@ -100,6 +117,9 @@ func New(ctx logger.Context) (logger.Logger, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	log.SetFormatter(syslogFormatter)
+	log.SetFramer(syslogFramer)
+
 	return &syslogger{
 		writer: log,
 	}, nil
@@ -165,6 +185,7 @@ func ValidateLogOpt(cfg map[string]string) error {
 		case "syslog-tls-key":
 		case "syslog-tls-skip-verify":
 		case "tag":
+		case "syslog-format":
 		default:
 			return fmt.Errorf("unknown log opt '%s' for syslog log driver", key)
 		}
@@ -175,6 +196,9 @@ func ValidateLogOpt(cfg map[string]string) error {
 	if _, err := parseFacility(cfg["syslog-facility"]); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	if _, _, err := parseLogFormat(cfg["syslog-format"]); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -207,3 +231,17 @@ func parseTLSConfig(cfg map[string]string) (*tls.Config, error) {
 
 	return tlsconfig.Client(opts)
 }
+
+func parseLogFormat(logFormat string) (syslog.Formatter, syslog.Framer, error) {
+	switch logFormat {
+	case "":
+		return syslog.UnixFormatter, syslog.DefaultFramer, nil
+	case "rfc3164":
+		return syslog.RFC3164Formatter, syslog.DefaultFramer, nil
+	case "rfc5424":
+		return rfc5424formatterWithAppNameAsTag, syslog.RFC5425MessageLengthFramer, nil
+	default:
+		return nil, nil, errors.New("Invalid syslog format")
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/daemon/logger/syslog/syslog_test.go b/daemon/logger/syslog/syslog_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c18494be10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/daemon/logger/syslog/syslog_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+// +build linux
+
+package syslog
+
+import (
+	syslog "github.com/RackSec/srslog"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func functionMatches(expectedFun interface{}, actualFun interface{}) bool {
+	return reflect.ValueOf(expectedFun).Pointer() == reflect.ValueOf(actualFun).Pointer()
+}
+
+func TestParseLogFormat(t *testing.T) {
+	formatter, framer, err := parseLogFormat("rfc5424")
+	if err != nil || !functionMatches(rfc5424formatterWithAppNameAsTag, formatter) ||
+		!functionMatches(syslog.RFC5425MessageLengthFramer, framer) {
+		t.Fatal("Failed to parse rfc5424 format", err, formatter, framer)
+	}
+
+	formatter, framer, err = parseLogFormat("rfc3164")
+	if err != nil || !functionMatches(syslog.RFC3164Formatter, formatter) ||
+		!functionMatches(syslog.DefaultFramer, framer) {
+		t.Fatal("Failed to parse rfc3164 format", err, formatter, framer)
+	}
+
+	formatter, framer, err = parseLogFormat("")
+	if err != nil || !functionMatches(syslog.UnixFormatter, formatter) ||
+		!functionMatches(syslog.DefaultFramer, framer) {
+		t.Fatal("Failed to parse empty format", err, formatter, framer)
+	}
+
+	formatter, framer, err = parseLogFormat("invalid")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Failed to parse invalid format", err, formatter, framer)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestValidateLogOptEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	emptyConfig := make(map[string]string)
+	if err := ValidateLogOpt(emptyConfig); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal("Failed to parse empty config", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/docs/admin/logging/overview.md b/docs/admin/logging/overview.md
index e3d3d11256..8338ab3286 100644
--- a/docs/admin/logging/overview.md
+++ b/docs/admin/logging/overview.md
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ The following logging options are supported for the `syslog` logging driver:
     --log-opt syslog-tls-key=/etc/ca-certificates/custom/key.pem
     --log-opt syslog-tls-skip-verify=true
     --log-opt tag="mailer"
+    --log-opt syslog-format=[rfc5424|rfc3164] 
 
 `syslog-address` specifies the remote syslog server address where the driver connects to.
 If not specified it defaults to the local unix socket of the running system.
@@ -131,6 +132,11 @@ By default, Docker uses the first 12 characters of the container ID to tag log m
 Refer to the [log tag option documentation](log_tags.md) for customizing
 the log tag format.
 
+`syslog-format` specifies syslog message format to use when logging.
+If not specified it defaults to the local unix syslog format without hostname specification.
+Specify rfc3164 to perform logging in RFC-3164 compatible format. Specify rfc5424 to perform 
+logging in RFC-5424 compatible format
+
 
 ## journald options