diff --git a/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.spec.ts b/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.spec.ts
index 92f01a1204c..531c7a5476d 100644
--- a/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.spec.ts
+++ b/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.spec.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ describe('Localization', () => {
             expect(i18nFormatter.formatDate('2025-01-25T14:15:00', 'ex: HH:mm GGG', 'en-US')).toEqual('ex: 14:15 AD');
         });
 
+        it('should return an empty string when the format is missing', () => {
+            const value = '2025-01-25T14:15:00';
+
+            expect(i18nFormatter.formatDate(value, undefined, 'en-US')).toEqual('');
+            expect(i18nFormatter.formatDate(value, null, 'en-US')).toEqual('');
+            expect(i18nFormatter.formatDate(value, '', 'en-US')).toEqual('');
+        });
+
         it('should return correct date format per locale', () => {
             // Defaults to Angular's one because they are registered in tests
             expect(i18nFormatter.getLocaleDateTimeFormat('en', false)).toEqual('M/d/yyyy');
diff --git a/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.ts b/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.ts
index 30322207db0..1b7e6f7b2f6 100644
--- a/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.ts
+++ b/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-base.ts
@@ -77,10 +77,8 @@ export class BaseFormatter {
     /**
      * Format provided date to reflect locales format. Similar to Angular's formatDate.
      */
-    public formatDate(value: Date | string | number | null | undefined, format: string, locale: string, timezone?: string): string {
-        // Mirror Angular's DatePipe, which defaults to 'mediumDate' when no format is supplied.
-        // A null/empty format would otherwise reach ngFormatDate and throw on `format.length`.
-        return value != null ? ngFormatDate(value, format || 'mediumDate', locale, timezone) : '';
+    public formatDate(value: Date | string | number | null | undefined, format: string | null | undefined, locale: string, timezone?: string): string {
+        return value != null && format ? ngFormatDate(value, format, locale, timezone) : '';
     }
 
     /** Format number value based on locale */
diff --git a/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-intl.ts b/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-intl.ts
index 1839fe48667..d1372fd678c 100644
--- a/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-intl.ts
+++ b/projects/igniteui-angular/core/src/core/i18n/formatters/formatter-intl.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export class IntlFormatter extends BaseFormatter {
         }
     }
 
-    public override formatDate(value: Date | string | number | null | undefined, format: string, locale: string, timezone?: string): string {
+    public override formatDate(value: Date | string | number | null | undefined, format: string | null | undefined, locale: string, timezone?: string): string {
         if (value === null || value === undefined || value === '') {
             return '';
         }