diff --git a/third_party/muya/src/state/__tests__/tableEscapedPipe.spec.ts b/third_party/muya/src/state/__tests__/tableEscapedPipe.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2f2249
--- /dev/null
+++ b/third_party/muya/src/state/__tests__/tableEscapedPipe.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+// @vitest-environment happy-dom
+
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { Muya } from '../../muya';
+import { MarkdownToState } from '../markdownToState';
+import ExportMarkdown from '../stateToMarkdown';
+
+vi.mock('../../utils/prism/index', () => ({
+    default: {},
+    walkTokens: () => null,
+    loadedLanguages: new Set(),
+    transformAliasToOrigin: (language: string) => language,
+    loadLanguage: () => Promise.resolve([]),
+    search: () => [],
+}));
+
+function boot(markdown: string): Muya {
+    const host = document.createElement('div');
+    document.body.appendChild(host);
+    const muya = new Muya(host, { markdown } as ConstructorParameters<typeof Muya>[1]);
+    muya.init();
+    return muya;
+}
+
+function codeTexts(muya: Muya): string[] {
+    return [...muya.domNode!.querySelectorAll('td code')].map(code => code.textContent ?? '');
+}
+
+function roundTrip(markdown: string): string {
+    const states = new MarkdownToState().generate(markdown);
+    return new ExportMarkdown({ listIndentation: 1 }).generate(states);
+}
+
+const TABLE = [
+    '| a | b |',
+    '| --- | --- |',
+    '| `\\|` | x |',
+    '| `\\|\\|` | y |',
+    '',
+].join('\n');
+
+describe('#4849: escaped pipe in a table cell', () => {
+    it('renders `\\|` inside code as | without the backslash in the editor', () => {
+        const muya = boot(TABLE);
+
+        expect(codeTexts(muya)).toEqual(['|', '||']);
+    });
+
+    it('keeps the table structure', () => {
+        const muya = boot(TABLE);
+        const rows = muya.domNode!.querySelectorAll('tr');
+
+        expect(rows.length).toBe(3);
+        expect(rows[2].querySelectorAll('td').length).toBe(2);
+    });
+
+    it('round-trips the escaped pipes back to `\\|` / `\\|\\|`', () => {
+        const markdown = roundTrip(TABLE);
+
+        expect(markdown).toContain('`\\|`');
+        expect(markdown).toContain('`\\|\\|`');
+    });
+
+    it('round-trips an escaped pipe in plain cell text', () => {
+        const markdown = roundTrip('| a | b |\n| --- | --- |\n| x \\| y | z |\n');
+
+        expect(markdown).toContain('x \\| y');
+    });
+});
diff --git a/third_party/muya/src/state/markdownToState.ts b/third_party/muya/src/state/markdownToState.ts
index a049bc5..e42878e 100644
--- a/third_party/muya/src/state/markdownToState.ts
+++ b/third_party/muya/src/state/markdownToState.ts
@@ -14,11 +14,6 @@ import logger from '../utils/logger';
 import { lexBlock } from '../utils/marked';
 
 const debug = logger('import markdown: ');
-function restoreTableEscapeCharacters(text: string) {
-    // NOTE: markedjs replaces all escaped "|" ("\|") characters inside a cell with "|".
-    //       We have to re-escape the character to not break the table.
-    return text.replace(/\|/g, '\\|');
-}
 
 function getOrderedListItemMarker(token: TBlockToken) {
     if (token.type !== 'list_item')
@@ -313,7 +308,7 @@ export class MarkdownToState {
                     children: header.map((h, i) => ({
                         name: 'table.cell' as const,
                         meta: { align: align[i] || 'none' },
-                        text: restoreTableEscapeCharacters(h.text),
+                        text: h.text,
                     })),
                 });
 
@@ -323,7 +318,7 @@ export class MarkdownToState {
                         children: row.map((c, i) => ({
                             name: 'table.cell' as const,
                             meta: { align: align[i] || 'none' },
-                            text: restoreTableEscapeCharacters(c.text),
+                            text: c.text,
                         })),
                     })),
                 );