diff --git a/src/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelper.php b/src/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelper.php
index b32e9ac..50ead93 100644
--- a/src/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelper.php
+++ b/src/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelper.php
@@ -46,6 +46,15 @@ class CellHelper
         return self::$columnIndexToCellIndexCache[$originalColumnIndex];
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @param $value
+     * @return bool Whether the given value is considered "empty"
+     */
+    public static function isEmpty($value)
+    {
+        return ($value === null || $value === '');
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param $value
      * @return bool Whether the given value is a non empty string
diff --git a/src/Spout/Writer/XLSX/Internal/Worksheet.php b/src/Spout/Writer/XLSX/Internal/Worksheet.php
index 72aa419..5896c05 100644
--- a/src/Spout/Writer/XLSX/Internal/Worksheet.php
+++ b/src/Spout/Writer/XLSX/Internal/Worksheet.php
@@ -131,6 +131,38 @@ EOD;
      * @throws \Box\Spout\Common\Exception\InvalidArgumentException If a cell value's type is not supported
      */
     public function addRow($dataRow, $style)
+    {
+        if (!$this->isEmptyRow($dataRow)) {
+            $this->addNonEmptyRow($dataRow, $style);
+        }
+
+        $this->lastWrittenRowIndex++;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns whether the given row is empty
+     *
+     * @param array $dataRow Array containing data to be written. Cannot be empty.
+     *          Example $dataRow = ['data1', 1234, null, '', 'data5'];
+     * @return bool Whether the given row is empty
+     */
+    private function isEmptyRow($dataRow)
+    {
+        $numCells = count($dataRow);
+        return ($numCells === 1 && CellHelper::isEmpty($dataRow[0]));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds non empty row to the worksheet.
+     *
+     * @param array $dataRow Array containing data to be written. Cannot be empty.
+     *          Example $dataRow = ['data1', 1234, null, '', 'data5'];
+     * @param \Box\Spout\Writer\Style\Style $style Style to be applied to the row. NULL means use default style.
+     * @return void
+     * @throws \Box\Spout\Common\Exception\IOException If the data cannot be written
+     * @throws \Box\Spout\Common\Exception\InvalidArgumentException If a cell value's type is not supported
+     */
+    private function addNonEmptyRow($dataRow, $style)
     {
         $cellNumber = 0;
         $rowIndex = $this->lastWrittenRowIndex + 1;
@@ -149,9 +181,6 @@ EOD;
         if ($wasWriteSuccessful === false) {
             throw new IOException("Unable to write data in {$this->worksheetFilePath}");
         }
-
-        // only update the count if the write worked
-        $this->lastWrittenRowIndex++;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelperTest.php b/tests/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelperTest.php
index 2abb4cc..a07046f 100644
--- a/tests/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelperTest.php
+++ b/tests/Spout/Writer/Common/Helper/CellHelperTest.php
@@ -35,6 +35,23 @@ class CellHelperTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $this->assertEquals($expectedCellIndex, CellHelper::getCellIndexFromColumnIndex($columnIndex));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @return array
+     */
+    public function testIsEmpty()
+    {
+        $this->assertTrue(CellHelper::isEmpty(null));
+        $this->assertTrue(CellHelper::isEmpty(""));
+
+        $this->assertFalse(CellHelper::isEmpty("string"));
+        $this->assertFalse(CellHelper::isEmpty(0));
+        $this->assertFalse(CellHelper::isEmpty(1));
+        $this->assertFalse(CellHelper::isEmpty(true));
+        $this->assertFalse(CellHelper::isEmpty(false));
+        $this->assertFalse(CellHelper::isEmpty(["string"]));
+        $this->assertFalse(CellHelper::isEmpty(new \stdClass()));
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return array
      */
diff --git a/tests/Spout/Writer/XLSX/WriterTest.php b/tests/Spout/Writer/XLSX/WriterTest.php
index cc8daca..a49a7f6 100644
--- a/tests/Spout/Writer/XLSX/WriterTest.php
+++ b/tests/Spout/Writer/XLSX/WriterTest.php
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ class WriterTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
     /**
      * @return void
      */
-    public function testAddRowShouldCleanupAllFilesIfExceptionIsThrown2()
+    public function testAddRowShouldCleanupAllFilesIfExceptionIsThrown()
     {
         $fileName = 'test_add_row_should_cleanup_all_files_if_exception_thrown.xlsx';
         $dataRows = [
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ class WriterTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             ['foo' => 'xlsx--11', 'bar' => 'xlsx--12'],
         ];
 
-        $this->writeToXLSXFile($dataRows, $fileName, $shouldUseInlineStrings = true);
+        $this->writeToXLSXFile($dataRows, $fileName);
 
         foreach ($dataRows as $dataRow) {
             foreach ($dataRow as $cellValue) {
@@ -285,6 +285,29 @@ class WriterTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function testAddRowShouldNotWriteEmptyRows()
+    {
+        $fileName = 'test_add_row_should_not_write_empty_rows.xlsx';
+        $dataRows = [
+            [''],
+            ['xlsx--21', 'xlsx--22'],
+            [''],
+            [''],
+            ['xlsx--51', 'xlsx--52'],
+        ];
+
+        $this->writeToXLSXFile($dataRows, $fileName);
+
+        $this->assertInlineDataWasWrittenToSheet($fileName, 1, 'row r="2"');
+        $this->assertInlineDataWasWrittenToSheet($fileName, 1, 'row r="5"');
+        $this->assertInlineDataWasNotWrittenToSheet($fileName, 1, 'row r="1"');
+        $this->assertInlineDataWasNotWrittenToSheet($fileName, 1, 'row r="3"');
+        $this->assertInlineDataWasNotWrittenToSheet($fileName, 1, 'row r="4"');
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return void
      */