diff --git a/src/vs/base/browser/htmlContentRenderer.ts b/src/vs/base/browser/htmlContentRenderer.ts
index 5e0c45a5628..ff348241c42 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/browser/htmlContentRenderer.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/browser/htmlContentRenderer.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import { IMouseEvent } from 'vs/base/browser/mouseEvent';
 import { IDisposable } from 'vs/base/common/lifecycle';
 import { onUnexpectedError } from 'vs/base/common/errors';
 import { URI } from 'vs/base/common/uri';
+import { parse } from 'vs/base/common/marshalling';
+import { cloneAndChange } from 'vs/base/common/objects';
 
 export interface IContentActionHandler {
 	callback: (content: string, event?: IMouseEvent) => void;
@@ -53,10 +55,37 @@ export function renderFormattedText(formattedText: string, options: RenderOption
 export function renderMarkdown(markdown: IMarkdownString, options: RenderOptions = {}): HTMLElement {
 	const element = createElement(options);
 
+	const _uriMassage = function (part: string): string {
+		let data: any;
+		try {
+			data = parse(decodeURIComponent(part));
+		} catch (e) {
+			// ignore
+		}
+		if (!data) {
+			return part;
+		}
+		data = cloneAndChange(data, value => {
+			if (markdown.uris[value]) {
+				return URI.revive(markdown.uris[value]);
+			} else {
+				return undefined;
+			}
+		});
+		return encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(data));
+	};
+
 	const _href = function (href: string): string {
 		const data = markdown.uris && markdown.uris[href];
+		if (!data) {
+			return href;
+		}
+		let uri = URI.revive(data);
+		if (uri.query) {
+			uri = uri.with({ query: _uriMassage(uri.query) });
+		}
 		if (data) {
-			href = URI.revive(data).toString(true);
+			href = uri.toString(true);
 		}
 		return href;
 	};
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts
index e50f4755d58..f4426f74c52 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypeConverters.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import { EditorViewColumn } from 'vs/workbench/api/shared/editor';
 import { IDecorationOptions, IThemeDecorationRenderOptions, IDecorationRenderOptions, IContentDecorationRenderOptions } from 'vs/editor/common/editorCommon';
 import { EndOfLineSequence, TrackedRangeStickiness } from 'vs/editor/common/model';
 import * as vscode from 'vscode';
-import { URI } from 'vs/base/common/uri';
+import { URI, UriComponents } from 'vs/base/common/uri';
 import { ProgressLocation as MainProgressLocation } from 'vs/platform/progress/common/progress';
 import { SaveReason } from 'vs/workbench/services/textfile/common/textfiles';
 import { IPosition } from 'vs/editor/common/core/position';
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import { ACTIVE_GROUP, SIDE_GROUP } from 'vs/workbench/services/editor/common/ed
 import { ExtHostDocumentsAndEditors } from 'vs/workbench/api/node/extHostDocumentsAndEditors';
 import { isString, isNumber } from 'vs/base/common/types';
 import * as marked from 'vs/base/common/marked/marked';
+import { parse } from 'vs/base/common/marshalling';
+import { cloneAndChange } from 'vs/base/common/objects';
 
 export interface PositionLike {
 	line: number;
@@ -227,7 +229,9 @@ export namespace MarkdownString {
 		let renderer = new marked.Renderer();
 		renderer.image = renderer.link = (href: string): string => {
 			try {
-				res.uris[href] = URI.parse(href, true);
+				let uri = URI.parse(href, true);
+				uri = uri.with({ query: _uriMassage(uri.query, res.uris) });
+				res.uris[href] = uri;
 			} catch (e) {
 				// ignore
 			}
@@ -238,6 +242,31 @@ export namespace MarkdownString {
 		return res;
 	}
 
+	function _uriMassage(part: string, bucket: { [n: string]: UriComponents }): string {
+		if (!part) {
+			return part;
+		}
+		let data: any;
+		try {
+			data = parse(decodeURIComponent(part));
+		} catch (e) {
+			// ignore
+		}
+		if (!data) {
+			return part;
+		}
+		data = cloneAndChange(data, value => {
+			if (value instanceof URI) {
+				let key = `__uri_${Math.random().toString(16).slice(2, 8)}`;
+				bucket[key] = value;
+				return key;
+			} else {
+				return undefined;
+			}
+		});
+		return encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(data));
+	}
+
 	export function to(value: htmlContent.IMarkdownString): vscode.MarkdownString {
 		const ret = new htmlContent.MarkdownString(value.value);
 		ret.isTrusted = value.isTrusted;