diff --git a/lib/internal/url.js b/lib/internal/url.js
index da4eb07a815c45..dc3c8a7cbdc98b 100644
--- a/lib/internal/url.js
+++ b/lib/internal/url.js
@@ -1,13 +1,5 @@
 'use strict';
 
-function getPunycode() {
-  try {
-    return process.binding('icu');
-  } catch (err) {
-    return require('punycode');
-  }
-}
-const punycode = getPunycode();
 const util = require('util');
 const binding = process.binding('url');
 const context = Symbol('context');
@@ -20,6 +12,7 @@ const kScheme = Symbol('scheme');
 const kHost = Symbol('host');
 const kPort = Symbol('port');
 const kDomain = Symbol('domain');
+const kFormat = Symbol('format');
 
 // https://tc39.github.io/ecma262/#sec-%iteratorprototype%-object
 const IteratorPrototype = Object.getPrototypeOf(
@@ -263,18 +256,19 @@ class URL {
 }
 
 Object.defineProperties(URL.prototype, {
-  toString: {
-    // https://heycam.github.io/webidl/#es-stringifier
-    writable: true,
-    enumerable: true,
-    configurable: true,
+  [kFormat]: {
+    enumerable: false,
+    configurable: false,
     // eslint-disable-next-line func-name-matching
-    value: function toString(options) {
-      options = options || {};
-      const fragment =
-        options.fragment !== undefined ?
-          !!options.fragment : true;
-      const unicode = !!options.unicode;
+    value: function format(options) {
+      if (options && typeof options !== 'object')
+        throw new TypeError('options must be an object');
+      options = Object.assign({
+        fragment: true,
+        unicode: false,
+        search: true,
+        auth: true
+      }, options);
       const ctx = this[context];
       var ret;
       if (this.protocol)
@@ -284,28 +278,23 @@ Object.defineProperties(URL.prototype, {
         const has_username = typeof ctx.username === 'string';
         const has_password = typeof ctx.password === 'string' &&
                              ctx.password !== '';
-        if (has_username || has_password) {
+        if (options.auth && (has_username || has_password)) {
           if (has_username)
             ret += ctx.username;
           if (has_password)
             ret += `:${ctx.password}`;
           ret += '@';
         }
-        if (unicode) {
-          ret += punycode.toUnicode(this.hostname);
-          if (this.port !== undefined)
-            ret += `:${this.port}`;
-        } else {
-          ret += this.host;
-        }
+        ret += options.unicode ?
+          domainToUnicode(this.host) : this.host;
       } else if (ctx.scheme === 'file:') {
         ret += '//';
       }
       if (this.pathname)
         ret += this.pathname;
-      if (typeof ctx.query === 'string')
+      if (options.search && typeof ctx.query === 'string')
         ret += `?${ctx.query}`;
-      if (fragment & typeof ctx.fragment === 'string')
+      if (options.fragment && typeof ctx.fragment === 'string')
         ret += `#${ctx.fragment}`;
       return ret;
     }
@@ -314,11 +303,21 @@ Object.defineProperties(URL.prototype, {
     configurable: true,
     value: 'URL'
   },
+  toString: {
+    // https://heycam.github.io/webidl/#es-stringifier
+    writable: true,
+    enumerable: true,
+    configurable: true,
+    // eslint-disable-next-line func-name-matching
+    value: function toString() {
+      return this[kFormat]({});
+    }
+  },
   href: {
     enumerable: true,
     configurable: true,
     get() {
-      return this.toString();
+      return this[kFormat]({});
     },
     set(input) {
       parse(this, input);
@@ -1120,3 +1119,4 @@ exports.domainToASCII = domainToASCII;
 exports.domainToUnicode = domainToUnicode;
 exports.encodeAuth = encodeAuth;
 exports.urlToOptions = urlToOptions;
+exports.formatSymbol = kFormat;
diff --git a/lib/url.js b/lib/url.js
index 2f05cc6648ab48..9164d5991b7a67 100644
--- a/lib/url.js
+++ b/lib/url.js
@@ -549,19 +549,22 @@ function autoEscapeStr(rest) {
 }
 
 // format a parsed object into a url string
-function urlFormat(obj) {
+function urlFormat(obj, options) {
   // ensure it's an object, and not a string url.
   // If it's an obj, this is a no-op.
   // this way, you can call url_format() on strings
   // to clean up potentially wonky urls.
-  if (typeof obj === 'string') obj = urlParse(obj);
-
-  else if (typeof obj !== 'object' || obj === null)
+  if (typeof obj === 'string') {
+    obj = urlParse(obj);
+  } else if (typeof obj !== 'object' || obj === null) {
     throw new TypeError('Parameter "urlObj" must be an object, not ' +
                         obj === null ? 'null' : typeof obj);
-
-  else if (!(obj instanceof Url)) return Url.prototype.format.call(obj);
-
+  } else if (!(obj instanceof Url)) {
+    var format = obj[internalUrl.formatSymbol];
+    return format ?
+      format.call(obj, options) :
+      Url.prototype.format.call(obj);
+  }
   return obj.format();
 }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-url-format-whatwg.js b/test/parallel/test-url-format-whatwg.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..507d3f8419d73e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-url-format-whatwg.js
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+'use strict';
+
+require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const url = require('url');
+const URL = url.URL;
+
+const myURL = new URL('http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c');
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+const errreg = /^TypeError: options must be an object$/;
+assert.throws(() => url.format(myURL, true), errreg);
+assert.throws(() => url.format(myURL, 1), errreg);
+assert.throws(() => url.format(myURL, 'test'), errreg);
+assert.throws(() => url.format(myURL, Infinity), errreg);
+
+// Any falsy value other than undefined will be treated as false.
+// Any truthy value will be treated as true.
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {fragment: false}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {fragment: ''}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {fragment: 0}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {fragment: 1}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {fragment: {}}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {search: false}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {search: ''}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {search: 0}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {search: 1}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {search: {}}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {unicode: true}),
+  'http://理容ナカムラ.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {unicode: 1}),
+  'http://理容ナカムラ.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {unicode: {}}),
+  'http://理容ナカムラ.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {unicode: false}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  url.format(myURL, {unicode: 0}),
+  'http://xn--lck1c3crb1723bpq4a.com/a?a=b#c'
+);