Abstract. The paper presents the theoretical basis and practical implementation of the concept of a five-stroke cycle where an additional expansion of the working medium is achieved in a separate cylinder. The work, carried out at the Cracow University of Technology, constitutes a development of the idea of five-stroke engine. This paper proposes a new theoretical thermodynamic cycle that describes the processes occurring in a five-stroke engine. It has been taken into consideration that the expansion ratio of the engine is twice the compression ratio. At the next step an analysis of the thermodynamic cycle with particular emphasis on its thermal efficiency compared to efficiency of four-stroke engine has been shown. In the second part of the article selected research results of the five-stroke engine built based on the existing four-cylinder spark ignition engine have been presented. A comparison of the total efficiency obtained by the engine in the four-and five-stroke version has been provided. Similar comparisons for specific emission of the selected exhaust components have also been given.Key words: innovative five-stroke engine cycle, Carnot Cycle, Otto cycle, five-stroke engine, additional expansion, increase of thermal efficiency of the five-stroke engine cycle.