diff --git a/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocLexer.java b/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocLexer.java
index 78116960a..1cef3a8b1 100644
--- a/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocLexer.java
+++ b/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocLexer.java
@@ -55,12 +55,14 @@
 import static java.util.regex.Pattern.compile;
 
 import com.google.common.base.CharMatcher;
+import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.PeekingIterator;
 import java.util.ArrayDeque;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Deque;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 /** Lexer for the Javadoc formatter. */
@@ -74,9 +76,52 @@ static ImmutableList<Token> lex(String input) throws LexException {
          */
         input = stripJavadocBeginAndEnd(input);
         input = normalizeLineEndings(input);
+        input = stripMargins(input);
         return new JavadocLexer(new CharStream(input)).generateTokens();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Strips the margin from every continuation line: the {@code *} prefix (with the space after it) from lines that
+     * have one, and the comment's own indentation from lines that do not. What remains of a bare line's indentation is
+     * relative to the comment, as on {@code *} lines after their {@code * }, so a {@code <pre>{@code} block written
+     * without the {@code *} margin keeps its shape for {@link #deindentPreCodeBlocks}.
+     *
+     * <p>The indentation stripped from bare lines is the smaller of the shortest {@code *} prefix and the shortest
+     * indentation of a bare line, so a bare line is never cut into and lines of both kinds stay aligned with each
+     * other.
+     */
+    private static String stripMargins(String input) {
+        List<String> lines = Splitter.on('\n').splitToList(input);
+        List<String> continuations = lines.subList(1, lines.size());
+        int starPrefixLength = continuations.stream()
+                .map(STAR_PREFIX_PATTERN::matcher)
+                .filter(Matcher::find)
+                .mapToInt(Matcher::end)
+                .min()
+                .orElse(0);
+        int bareIndentation = continuations.stream()
+                .filter(line -> !STAR_PREFIX_PATTERN.matcher(line).find())
+                .filter(NOT_SPACE_OR_TAB::matchesAnyOf)
+                .mapToInt(NOT_SPACE_OR_TAB::indexIn)
+                .min()
+                .orElse(0);
+        int bareStrip = Math.min(starPrefixLength, bareIndentation);
+        StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(lines.get(0));
+        for (String line : continuations) {
+            result.append('\n');
+            Matcher star = STAR_PREFIX_PATTERN.matcher(line);
+            if (star.find()) {
+                result.append(line, star.end(), line.length());
+            } else if (NOT_SPACE_OR_TAB.matchesAnyOf(line)) {
+                result.append(line, bareStrip, line.length());
+            }
+        }
+        return result.toString();
+    }
+
+    private static final Pattern STAR_PREFIX_PATTERN = compile("^[ \t]*[*][ \t]?");
+    private static final CharMatcher NOT_SPACE_OR_TAB = CharMatcher.noneOf(" \t");
+
     /** The lexer crashes on windows line endings, so for now just normalize to `\n`. */
     // TODO(cushon): use the platform line separator for output
     private static String normalizeLineEndings(String input) {
@@ -528,8 +573,11 @@ private static boolean hasMultipleNewlines(String s) {
      *
      * We'd remove the trailing whitespace later on (in JavaCommentsHelper.rewrite), but I feel safer
      * stripping it now: It otherwise might confuse our line-length count, which we use for wrapping.
+     *
+     * The margin of the next line (its `*` and the comment's indentation) is gone already: see
+     * stripMargins().
      */
-    private static final Pattern NEWLINE_PATTERN = compile("^[ \t]*\n[ \t]*[*]?[ \t]?");
+    private static final Pattern NEWLINE_PATTERN = compile("^[ \t]*\n");
 
     // We ensure elsewhere that we match this only at the beginning of a line.
     // Only match tags that start with a lowercase letter, to avoid false matches on unescaped
diff --git a/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocWriter.java b/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocWriter.java
index 884efb9f5..e86855742 100644
--- a/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocWriter.java
+++ b/open-java-format/src/main/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/javadoc/JavadocWriter.java
@@ -23,11 +23,13 @@
 import static com.palantir.javaformat.java.javadoc.JavadocWriter.RequestedWhitespace.NONE;
 import static com.palantir.javaformat.java.javadoc.JavadocWriter.RequestedWhitespace.WHITESPACE;
 import static com.palantir.javaformat.java.javadoc.Token.Type.HEADER_OPEN_TAG;
+import static com.palantir.javaformat.java.javadoc.Token.Type.HTML_COMMENT;
 import static com.palantir.javaformat.java.javadoc.Token.Type.LIST_ITEM_OPEN_TAG;
 import static com.palantir.javaformat.java.javadoc.Token.Type.PARAGRAPH_OPEN_TAG;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.Ordering;
+import java.util.List;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 
 /**
@@ -263,7 +265,14 @@ void writeMoeEndStripComment(Token token) {
     void writeHtmlComment(Token token) {
         requestNewline();
 
-        writeToken(token);
+        // The lexer has stripped the margin from every line, so each one gets the margin back here.
+        List<String> lines = token.getValue().lines().toList();
+        writeToken(new Token(HTML_COMMENT, lines.get(0)));
+        for (String line : lines.subList(1, lines.size())) {
+            writeNewline(NO_AUTO_INDENT);
+            output.append(line);
+            remainingOnLine -= line.length();
+        }
 
         requestNewline();
     }
diff --git a/open-java-format/src/test/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/JavadocFormattingTest.java b/open-java-format/src/test/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/JavadocFormattingTest.java
index da51929fe..40bcb4ad5 100644
--- a/open-java-format/src/test/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/JavadocFormattingTest.java
+++ b/open-java-format/src/test/java/com/palantir/javaformat/java/JavadocFormattingTest.java
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ void commentMostlyUntouched() {
             "/**", " * Foo.", " *", " *  <!--", "*abc", " *   def   ", " * </tr>", " *-->bar", " */", "class Test {}",
         };
         String[] expected = {
-            "/**", " * Foo.", " * <!--", " *abc", " *   def", " * </tr>", " *-->", " * bar", " */", "class Test {}",
+            "/**", " * Foo.", " * <!--", " * abc", " *   def", " * </tr>", " * -->", " * bar", " */", "class Test {}",
         };
         doFormatTest(input, expected);
     }
@@ -1496,4 +1496,104 @@ void snippetKeepsCommentsAndIndentation() {
         };
         doFormatTest(input, input);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void preCodeWithoutLeadingStarPreservesIndent() {
+        String[] input = {
+            "/**", //
+            " * Example:",
+            " * <pre>{@code",
+            "class Demo {",
+            "  // Comment",
+            "  static final int X = 1;",
+            "",
+            "  public static void example() {",
+            "    int y = 2;",
+            "  }",
+            "}",
+            " * }</pre>",
+            " */",
+            "class Test {}",
+        };
+        String[] expected = {
+            "/**", //
+            " * Example:",
+            " *",
+            " * <pre>{@code",
+            " * class Demo {",
+            " *   // Comment",
+            " *   static final int X = 1;",
+            " *",
+            " *   public static void example() {",
+            " *     int y = 2;",
+            " *   }",
+            " * }",
+            " * }</pre>",
+            " */",
+            "class Test {}",
+        };
+        doFormatTest(input, expected);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void preCodeWithoutLeadingStarInIndentedComment() {
+        String[] input = {
+            "class Outer {", //
+            "    /**",
+            "     * Usage:",
+            "     * <pre>{@code",
+            "        Demo demo = new Demo();",
+            "        if (demo.ready()) {",
+            "            demo.run();",
+            "        }",
+            "     * }</pre>",
+            "     */",
+            "    void m() {}",
+            "}",
+        };
+        String[] expected = {
+            "class Outer {", //
+            "  /**",
+            "   * Usage:",
+            "   *",
+            "   * <pre>{@code",
+            "   * Demo demo = new Demo();",
+            "   * if (demo.ready()) {",
+            "   *     demo.run();",
+            "   * }",
+            "   * }</pre>",
+            "   */",
+            "  void m() {}",
+            "}",
+        };
+        doFormatTest(input, expected);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void preCodeMixedStarAndBareLinesKeepRelativeIndent() {
+        String[] input = {
+            "/**", //
+            " * Example:",
+            " * <pre>{@code",
+            " * class Demo {",
+            "     int x;",
+            " * }",
+            " * }</pre>",
+            " */",
+            "class Test {}",
+        };
+        String[] expected = {
+            "/**", //
+            " * Example:",
+            " *",
+            " * <pre>{@code",
+            " * class Demo {",
+            " *   int x;",
+            " * }",
+            " * }</pre>",
+            " */",
+            "class Test {}",
+        };
+        doFormatTest(input, expected);
+    }
 }