diff --git a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/features/documentLinkProvider.ts b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/features/documentLinkProvider.ts
index e4015e69a7626..e2bd61b2e9dc5 100644
--- a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/features/documentLinkProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/features/documentLinkProvider.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ function parseLink(
 	document: vscode.TextDocument,
 	link: string,
 ): { uri: vscode.Uri, tooltip?: string } | undefined {
-	const externalSchemeUri = getUriForLinkWithKnownExternalScheme(link);
+
+	const cleanLink = stripAngleBrackets(link);
+	const externalSchemeUri = getUriForLinkWithKnownExternalScheme(cleanLink);
 	if (externalSchemeUri) {
 		// Normalize VS Code links to target currently running version
 		if (isOfScheme(Schemes.vscode, link) || isOfScheme(Schemes['vscode-insiders'], link)) {
@@ -89,6 +91,15 @@ function extractDocumentLink(
 	}
 }
 
+/* Used to strip brackets from the markdown link
+	<http://example.com> will be transformed to
+	http://example.com
+*/
+export function stripAngleBrackets(link: string) {
+	const bracketMatcher = /^<(.*)>$/;
+	return link.replace(bracketMatcher, '$1');
+}
+
 export default class LinkProvider implements vscode.DocumentLinkProvider {
 	private readonly linkPattern = /(\[((!\[[^\]]*?\]\(\s*)([^\s\(\)]+?)\s*\)\]|(?:\\\]|[^\]])*\])\(\s*)(([^\s\(\)]|\([^\s\(\)]*?\))+)\s*(".*?")?\)/g;
 	private readonly referenceLinkPattern = /(\[((?:\\\]|[^\]])+)\]\[\s*?)([^\s\]]*?)\]/g;