diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index fde2b11d3c..5790da35c1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ v 8.9.0 (unreleased)
   - Fix issue with arrow keys not working in search autocomplete dropdown
   - Fix an issue where note polling stopped working if a window was in the
     background during a refresh.
+  - Pre-processing Markdown now only happens when needed
   - Make EmailsOnPushWorker use Sidekiq mailers queue
   - Redesign all Devise emails. !4297
   - Don't show 'Leave Project' to group members
diff --git a/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb b/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
index a0dafc5262..1a259656f3 100644
--- a/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
@@ -50,8 +50,6 @@ module GitlabMarkdownHelper
 
     context[:project] ||= @project
 
-    text = Banzai.pre_process(text, context)
-
     html = Banzai.render(text, context)
 
     context.merge!(
diff --git a/lib/banzai.rb b/lib/banzai.rb
index b467413a7d..093382261a 100644
--- a/lib/banzai.rb
+++ b/lib/banzai.rb
@@ -7,10 +7,6 @@ module Banzai
     Renderer.render_result(text, context)
   end
 
-  def self.pre_process(text, context)
-    Renderer.pre_process(text, context)
-  end
-
   def self.post_process(html, context)
     Renderer.post_process(html, context)
   end
diff --git a/lib/banzai/renderer.rb b/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
index c14a9c4c72..6718acdef7 100644
--- a/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
+++ b/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
@@ -30,15 +30,11 @@ module Banzai
     end
 
     def self.render_result(text, context = {})
+      text = Pipeline[:pre_process].to_html(text, context) if text
+
       Pipeline[context[:pipeline]].call(text, context)
     end
 
-    def self.pre_process(text, context)
-      pipeline = Pipeline[:pre_process]
-
-      pipeline.to_html(text, context)
-    end
-
     # Perform post-processing on an HTML String
     #
     # This method is used to perform state-dependent changes to a String of