diff --git a/tabulate.py b/tabulate.py
index 0579fb3..ed8adec 100644
--- a/tabulate.py
+++ b/tabulate.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 from collections import namedtuple
+from decimal import Decimal
 import sys
 import re
 import math
@@ -996,7 +997,14 @@ def _format(val, valtype, floatfmt, missingval="", has_invisible=True):
             formatted_val = format(float(raw_val), floatfmt)
             return val.replace(raw_val, formatted_val)
         else:
-            return format(float(val), floatfmt)
+            try:
+                if "f" in floatfmt and float('-inf') < float(val) < float('inf'):
+                    val = Decimal(str(val))
+                else:
+                    val = float(val)
+            except (OverflowError, ValueError):
+                val = float(val)
+            return format(val, floatfmt)
     else:
         return "{0}".format(val)
 
diff --git a/test/test_output.py b/test/test_output.py
index eed4489..38f1766 100644
--- a/test/test_output.py
+++ b/test/test_output.py
@@ -1428,6 +1428,12 @@ def test_floatfmt_multi():
     assert_equal(expected, result)
 
 
+def test_floatfmt_precision():
+    result = tabulate([["99999998999.999980", 1234.5, 1.2345678, "inf"]], floatfmt=".6f", tablefmt="plain")
+    expected = "99999998999.999980  1234.500000  1.234568  inf"
+    assert_equal(expected, result)
+
+
 def test_colalign_multi():
     "Output: string columns with custom colalign"
     result = tabulate(