diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 6a8109eeaa..2c08a405b0 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -642,6 +642,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "ansi_term",
  "colored",
+ "strum",
  "unicode-width",
  "zellij-tile",
  "zellij-tile-utils",
diff --git a/default-plugins/compact-bar/Cargo.toml b/default-plugins/compact-bar/Cargo.toml
index 6f45e2c405..07e9ac0ad6 100644
--- a/default-plugins/compact-bar/Cargo.toml
+++ b/default-plugins/compact-bar/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ license = "MIT"
 [dependencies]
 colored = "2"
 ansi_term = "0.12"
+strum = "0.20.0"
 unicode-width = "0.1.8"
 zellij-tile = { path = "../../zellij-tile" }
 zellij-tile-utils = { path = "../../zellij-tile-utils" }
diff --git a/default-plugins/compact-bar/src/line.rs b/default-plugins/compact-bar/src/line.rs
index fa5fd3e932..8e0d8497e8 100644
--- a/default-plugins/compact-bar/src/line.rs
+++ b/default-plugins/compact-bar/src/line.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use ansi_term::ANSIStrings;
+use strum::IntoEnumIterator;
 use unicode_width::UnicodeWidthStr;
 
 use crate::{LinePart, ARROW_SEPARATOR};
@@ -214,8 +215,7 @@ fn tab_line_prefix(
             })
         }
     }
-    let mode_part = format!("{:?}", mode).to_uppercase();
-    let mode_part_padded = format!(" {} ", mode_part);
+    let mode_part_padded = format_input_mode(mode);
     let mode_part_len = mode_part_padded.width();
     let mode_part_styled_text = if mode == InputMode::Locked {
         style!(locked_mode_color, bg_color)
@@ -383,3 +383,25 @@ fn swap_layout_status(
         None => None,
     }
 }
+
+// format the given input mode to be displayed in the tab line
+// the mode is centered in the fixe-width space available
+fn format_input_mode(mode: InputMode) -> String {
+    let max_width = InputMode::iter()
+        .map(|variant| format!("{:?}", variant).len())
+        .max()
+        .map(|max_len| max_len + 2) // add padding(left+right) for the longest mode
+        .unwrap();
+
+    let mode_part = format!("{:?}", mode).to_uppercase();
+
+    let total_padding = max_width - mode_part.len();
+    let left_padding = total_padding / 2;
+    let right_padding = total_padding - left_padding;
+
+    format!(
+        "{left}{mode_part}{right}",
+        left = " ".repeat(left_padding),
+        right = " ".repeat(right_padding)
+    )
+}