diff --git a/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb b/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
index 89d2a648494..2f760af02fd 100644
--- a/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ 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 093382261ae..b467413a7dd 100644
--- a/lib/banzai.rb
+++ b/lib/banzai.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ 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/filter/yaml_front_matter_filter.rb b/lib/banzai/filter/yaml_front_matter_filter.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e4e2f3f228d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/banzai/filter/yaml_front_matter_filter.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+require 'html/pipeline/filter'
+require 'yaml'
+
+module Banzai
+  module Filter
+    class YamlFrontMatterFilter < HTML::Pipeline::Filter
+      DELIM = '---'.freeze
+
+      # Hat-tip to Middleman: https://git.io/v2e0z
+      PATTERN = %r{
+        \A(?:[^\r\n]*coding:[^\r\n]*\r?\n)?
+        (?<start>#{DELIM})[ ]*\r?\n
+        (?<frontmatter>.*?)[ ]*\r?\n?
+        ^(?<stop>#{DELIM})[ ]*\r?\n?
+        \r?\n?
+        (?<content>.*)
+      }mx.freeze
+
+      def call
+        match = PATTERN.match(html)
+
+        return html unless match
+
+        "```yaml\n#{match['frontmatter']}\n```\n\n#{match['content']}"
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/banzai/pipeline/pre_process_pipeline.rb b/lib/banzai/pipeline/pre_process_pipeline.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..50dc978b452
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/banzai/pipeline/pre_process_pipeline.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+module Banzai
+  module Pipeline
+    class PreProcessPipeline < BasePipeline
+      def self.filters
+        FilterArray[
+          Filter::YamlFrontMatterFilter
+        ]
+      end
+
+      def self.transform_context(context)
+        context.merge(
+          pre_process: true
+        )
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/banzai/renderer.rb b/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
index 891c0fd7749..ae714c87dc5 100644
--- a/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
+++ b/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
@@ -31,6 +31,12 @@ module Banzai
       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
diff --git a/spec/lib/banzai/filter/yaml_front_matter_filter_spec.rb b/spec/lib/banzai/filter/yaml_front_matter_filter_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fe70eada7eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/lib/banzai/filter/yaml_front_matter_filter_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+describe Banzai::Filter::YamlFrontMatterFilter, lib: true do
+  include FilterSpecHelper
+
+  it 'allows for `encoding:` before the frontmatter' do
+    content = <<-MD.strip_heredoc
+      # encoding: UTF-8
+      ---
+      foo: foo
+      ---
+
+      # Header
+
+      Content
+    MD
+
+    output = filter(content)
+
+    expect(output).not_to match 'encoding'
+  end
+
+  it 'converts YAML frontmatter to a fenced code block' do
+    content = <<-MD.strip_heredoc
+      ---
+      bar: :bar_symbol
+      ---
+
+      # Header
+
+      Content
+    MD
+
+    output = filter(content)
+
+    aggregate_failures do
+      expect(output).not_to include '---'
+      expect(output).to include "```yaml\nbar: :bar_symbol\n```"
+    end
+  end
+
+  context 'on content without frontmatter' do
+    it 'returns the content unmodified' do
+      content = <<-MD.strip_heredoc
+        # This is some Markdown
+
+        It has no YAML frontmatter to parse.
+      MD
+
+      expect(filter(content)).to eq content
+    end
+  end
+end