diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/i18n_parser.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/i18n_parser.ts
index b2499e89ec..41a6144b68 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/i18n_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/i18n_parser.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import * as html from '../ml_parser/ast';
 import {getHtmlTagDefinition} from '../ml_parser/html_tags';
 import {InterpolationConfig} from '../ml_parser/interpolation_config';
 import {ParseSourceSpan} from '../parse_util';
-import {digest} from './digest';
 
 import * as i18n from './i18n_ast';
 import {PlaceholderRegistry} from './serializers/placeholder';
@@ -34,8 +33,8 @@ class _I18nVisitor implements html.Visitor {
   private _isIcu: boolean;
   private _icuDepth: number;
   private _placeholderRegistry: PlaceholderRegistry;
-  private _placeholderToContent: {[name: string]: string};
-  private _placeholderToMessage: {[name: string]: i18n.Message};
+  private _placeholderToContent: {[phName: string]: string};
+  private _placeholderToMessage: {[phName: string]: i18n.Message};
 
   constructor(
       private _expressionParser: ExpressionParser,
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xliff.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xliff.ts
index 52b8370efe..0f5d1b004d 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xliff.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xliff.ts
@@ -35,12 +35,17 @@ export class Xliff implements Serializer {
 
   write(messages: i18n.Message[]): string {
     const visitor = new _WriteVisitor();
-
+    const visited: {[id: string]: boolean} = {};
     const transUnits: xml.Node[] = [];
 
     messages.forEach(message => {
+      const id = this.digest(message);
 
-      const transUnit = new xml.Tag(_UNIT_TAG, {id: this.digest(message), datatype: 'html'});
+      // deduplicate messages
+      if (visited[id]) return;
+      visited[id] = true;
+
+      const transUnit = new xml.Tag(_UNIT_TAG, {id, datatype: 'html'});
       transUnit.children.push(
           new xml.CR(8), new xml.Tag(_SOURCE_TAG, {}, visitor.serialize(message.nodes)),
           new xml.CR(8), new xml.Tag(_TARGET_TAG));
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xmb.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xmb.ts
index e510197fa5..97b3934467 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xmb.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xmb.ts
@@ -42,10 +42,17 @@ const _DOCTYPE = `<!ELEMENT messagebundle (msg)*>
 export class Xmb implements Serializer {
   write(messages: i18n.Message[]): string {
     const visitor = new _Visitor();
-    const rootNode = new xml.Tag(_MESSAGES_TAG);
+    const visited: {[id: string]: boolean} = {};
+    let rootNode = new xml.Tag(_MESSAGES_TAG);
 
     messages.forEach(message => {
-      const attrs: {[k: string]: string} = {id: this.digest(message)};
+      const id = this.digest(message);
+
+      // deduplicate messages
+      if (visited[id]) return;
+      visited[id] = true;
+
+      const attrs: {[k: string]: string} = {id};
 
       if (message.description) {
         attrs['desc'] = message.description;
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xtb.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xtb.ts
index 2cca95c891..a708fc9113 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xtb.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/i18n/serializers/xtb.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export class Xtb implements Serializer {
 
   load(content: string, url: string, messageBundle: MessageBundle): {[id: string]: ml.Node[]} {
     // Parse the xtb file into xml nodes
-    const result = new XmlParser().parse(content, url);
+    const result = new XmlParser().parse(content, url, true);
 
     if (result.errors.length) {
       throw new Error(`xtb parse errors:\n${result.errors.join('\n')}`);
@@ -188,12 +188,11 @@ class _Visitor implements ml.Visitor {
 
   visitExpansion(expansion: ml.Expansion, context: any): any {
     const strCases = expansion.cases.map(c => c.visit(this, null));
-
-    return `{${expansion.switchValue}, ${expansion.type}, strCases.join(' ')}`;
+    return `{${expansion.switchValue}, ${expansion.type}, ${strCases.join(' ')}}`;
   }
 
   visitExpansionCase(expansionCase: ml.ExpansionCase, context: any): any {
-    return `${expansionCase.value} {${ml.visitAll(this, expansionCase.expression, null)}}`;
+    return `${expansionCase.value} {${ml.visitAll(this, expansionCase.expression, null).join('')}}`;
   }
 
   private _addError(node: ml.Node, message: string): void {