diff --git a/README b/README
index 8faccea69..754f393ee 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -2254,9 +2254,10 @@ legal (though ugly) pipe table:
 
 The cells of pipe tables cannot contain block elements like paragraphs
 and lists, and cannot span multiple lines.  If a pipe table contains a
-row that is wider than the column width (see `--columns`), then the cell
-contents will wrap, with the relative cell widths determined by the widths
-of the separator lines.
+row whose printable content is wider than the column width (see
+`--columns`), then the cell contents will wrap, with the
+relative cell widths determined by the widths of the separator
+lines.
 
 Note:  pandoc also recognizes pipe tables of the following
 form, as can be produced by Emacs' orgtbl-mode:
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
index 64cd817ba..2d222176c 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
@@ -1341,10 +1341,10 @@ pipeTable :: MarkdownParser ([Alignment], [Double], F [Blocks], F [[Blocks]])
 pipeTable = try $ do
   nonindentSpaces
   lookAhead nonspaceChar
-  ((heads, rawHead),(aligns, seplengths)) <- (,) <$>
-                                        withRaw pipeTableRow <*> pipeBreak
-  (lines', rawRows) <- unzip <$> many (withRaw pipeTableRow)
-  let maxlength = maximum $ map length (rawHead : rawRows)
+  (heads,(aligns, seplengths)) <- (,) <$> pipeTableRow <*> pipeBreak
+  lines' <- many pipeTableRow
+  let maxlength = maximum $
+       map (\x -> length . stringify $ runF x def) (heads : lines')
   numColumns <- getOption readerColumns
   let widths = if maxlength > numColumns
                   then map (\len ->