diff --git a/posix.mak b/posix.mak
index 0df2b8fc788..0e39e444b67 100644
--- a/posix.mak
+++ b/posix.mak
@@ -207,13 +207,13 @@ P2MODULES=$(foreach P,$1,$(addprefix $P/,$(PACKAGE_$(subst /,_,$P))))
 STD_PACKAGES = std $(addprefix std/,\
   algorithm container datetime digest experimental/allocator \
   experimental/allocator/building_blocks experimental/logger \
-  net uni \
+  format net uni \
   experimental range regex windows)
 
 # Modules broken down per package
 
 PACKAGE_std = array ascii base64 bigint bitmanip compiler complex concurrency \
-  conv csv demangle encoding exception file format \
+  conv csv demangle encoding exception file \
   functional getopt json math mathspecial meta mmfile numeric \
   outbuffer package parallelism path process random signals socket stdint \
   stdio string system traits typecons \
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ PACKAGE_std_experimental_allocator_building_blocks = \
   bucketizer fallback_allocator free_list free_tree bitmapped_block \
   kernighan_ritchie null_allocator package quantizer \
   region scoped_allocator segregator stats_collector
+PACKAGE_std_format = package
 PACKAGE_std_net = curl isemail
 PACKAGE_std_range = interfaces package primitives
 PACKAGE_std_regex = package $(addprefix internal/,generator ir parser \
diff --git a/std/format.d b/std/format/package.d
similarity index 99%
rename from std/format.d
rename to std/format/package.d
index d48cfdeb248..ee7ad7f9af9 100644
--- a/std/format.d
+++ b/std/format/package.d
@@ -6418,7 +6418,7 @@ private bool needToSwapEndianess(Char)(scope const ref FormatSpec!Char f)
 }
 
 // Used to check format strings are compatible with argument types
-package static const checkFormatException(alias fmt, Args...) =
+package(std) static const checkFormatException(alias fmt, Args...) =
 {
     import std.conv : text;
 
diff --git a/win32.mak b/win32.mak
index cbd87197fdf..f4d790e821f 100644
--- a/win32.mak
+++ b/win32.mak
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ SRC= \
 SRC_STD_1= \
 	std\stdio.d \
 	std\string.d \
-	std\format.d \
 	std\file.d
 
 SRC_STD_2a= \
@@ -202,6 +201,9 @@ SRC_STD_DIGEST= \
 	std\digest\murmurhash.d \
 	std\digest\package.d
 
+SRC_STD_FORMAT= \
+    std\format\package.d
+
 SRC_STD_NET= \
 	std\net\isemail.d \
 	std\net\curl.d
@@ -309,6 +311,7 @@ SRC_TO_COMPILE= \
 	$(SRC_STD_CONTAINER) \
 	$(SRC_STD_DATETIME) \
 	$(SRC_STD_DIGEST) \
+	$(SRC_STD_FORMAT) \
 	$(SRC_STD_NET) \
 	$(SRC_STD_RANGE) \
 	$(SRC_STD_REGEX) \
@@ -378,6 +381,7 @@ UNITTEST_OBJS= \
 		unittest3b.obj \
 		unittest4.obj \
 		unittest5.obj \
+		unittest5a.obj \
 		unittest6.obj \
 		unittest6a.obj \
 		unittest6b.obj \
@@ -398,6 +402,7 @@ unittest : $(LIB)
 	$(DMD) $(UDFLAGS) -L/co -c  -ofunittest3b.obj $(SRC_STD_DATETIME)
 	$(DMD) $(UDFLAGS) -L/co -c  -ofunittest4.obj $(SRC_STD_4) $(SRC_STD_DIGEST)
 	$(DMD) $(UDFLAGS) -L/co -c  -ofunittest5.obj $(SRC_STD_ALGO)
+	$(DMD) $(UDFLAGS) -L/co -c  -ofunittest5a.obj $(SRC_STD_FORMAT)
 	$(DMD) $(UDFLAGS) -L/co -c  -ofunittest6.obj $(SRC_STD_6) $(SRC_STD_CONTAINER)
 	$(DMD) $(UDFLAGS) -L/co -c  -ofunittest6a.obj $(SRC_STD_EXP_ALLOC)
 	$(DMD) $(UDFLAGS) -L/co -c  -ofunittest6b.obj $(SRC_STD_EXP_LOGGER)
@@ -425,7 +430,6 @@ cov : $(SRC_TO_COMPILE) $(LIB)
 	del *.lst
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=83 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\stdio.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=95 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\string.d
-	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=71 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\format.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=83 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\file.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=86 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\range\package.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=95 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\array.d
@@ -476,6 +480,7 @@ cov : $(SRC_TO_COMPILE) $(LIB)
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=95 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\algorithm\searching.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=95 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\algorithm\setops.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=95 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\algorithm\sorting.d
+	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=71 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\format\package.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=83 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\variant.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=58 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\zlib.d
 	$(DMD) -conf= -cov=ctfe -cov=53 $(UDFLAGS) -main -run std\socket.d
diff --git a/win64.mak b/win64.mak
index 0be04774977..c4a92fdf057 100644
--- a/win64.mak
+++ b/win64.mak
@@ -104,7 +104,6 @@ SRC= \
 SRC_STD_1= \
 	std\stdio.d \
 	std\string.d \
-	std\format.d \
 	std\file.d
 
 SRC_STD_2a= \
@@ -200,6 +199,9 @@ SRC_STD_ALGO= \
 	$(SRC_STD_ALGO_2) \
 	$(SRC_STD_ALGO_3)
 
+SRC_STD_FORMAT= \
+    std\format\package.d
+
 SRC_STD_CONTAINER= \
 	std\container\array.d \
 	std\container\binaryheap.d \
@@ -334,6 +336,7 @@ SRC_TO_COMPILE= \
 	$(SRC_STD_CONTAINER) \
 	$(SRC_STD_DATETIME) \
 	$(SRC_STD_DIGEST) \
+	$(SRC_STD_FORMAT) \
 	$(SRC_STD_NET) \
 	$(SRC_STD_RANGE) \
 	$(SRC_STD_REGEX) \
@@ -407,6 +410,7 @@ UNITTEST_OBJS= \
 		unittest5a.obj \
 		unittest5b.obj \
 		unittest5c.obj \
+		unittest5d.obj \
 		unittest6a.obj \
 		unittest6c.obj \
 		unittest6e.obj \
@@ -435,6 +439,7 @@ unittest : $(LIB)
 	"$(DMD)" $(UDFLAGS) -c  -ofunittest5a.obj $(SRC_STD_ALGO_1)
 	"$(DMD)" $(UDFLAGS) -c  -ofunittest5b.obj $(SRC_STD_ALGO_2)
 	"$(DMD)" $(UDFLAGS) -c  -ofunittest5c.obj $(SRC_STD_ALGO_3)
+	"$(DMD)" $(UDFLAGS) -c  -ofunittest5d.obj $(SRC_STD_FORMAT)
 	"$(DMD)" $(UDFLAGS) -c  -ofunittest6a.obj $(SRC_STD_6a)
 	"$(DMD)" $(UDFLAGS) -c  -ofunittest6c.obj $(SRC_STD_6c)
 	"$(DMD)" $(UDFLAGS) -c  -ofunittest6e.obj $(SRC_STD_6e)