diff --git a/src/fu-main.c b/src/fu-main.c
index 250146ab6..69333ff64 100644
--- a/src/fu-main.c
+++ b/src/fu-main.c
@@ -757,15 +757,9 @@ fu_main_get_updates (FuMainPrivate *priv, GError **error)
 		}
 		tmp = as_release_get_description (rel, NULL);
 		if (tmp != NULL) {
-			_cleanup_free_ gchar *md = NULL;
-			md = as_markup_convert (tmp, -1,
-						AS_MARKUP_CONVERT_FORMAT_SIMPLE,
-						NULL);
-			if (md != NULL) {
-				fu_device_set_metadata (item->device,
-							FU_DEVICE_KEY_UPDATE_DESCRIPTION,
-							md);
-			}
+			fu_device_set_metadata (item->device,
+						FU_DEVICE_KEY_UPDATE_DESCRIPTION,
+						tmp);
 		}
 		g_ptr_array_add (updates, item);
 	}
diff --git a/src/fu-util.c b/src/fu-util.c
index 5b5009269..d04c62811 100644
--- a/src/fu-util.c
+++ b/src/fu-util.c
@@ -1290,6 +1290,7 @@ fu_util_get_updates (FuUtilPrivate *priv, gchar **values, GError **error)
 {
 	FuDevice *dev;
 	GPtrArray *devices = NULL;
+	const gchar *tmp;
 	guint i;
 
 	/* print any updates */
@@ -1315,9 +1316,18 @@ fu_util_get_updates (FuUtilPrivate *priv, gchar **values, GError **error)
 		fu_util_print_data (_("Location"),
 				    fu_device_get_metadata (dev, FU_DEVICE_KEY_UPDATE_URI));
 
-		/* TRANSLATORS: section header for long firmware desc */
-		fu_util_print_data (_("Description"),
-				    fu_device_get_metadata (dev, FU_DEVICE_KEY_UPDATE_DESCRIPTION));
+		/* convert XML -> text */
+		tmp = fu_device_get_metadata (dev, FU_DEVICE_KEY_UPDATE_DESCRIPTION);
+		if (tmp != NULL) {
+			_cleanup_free_ gchar *md = NULL;
+			md = as_markup_convert (tmp, -1,
+						AS_MARKUP_CONVERT_FORMAT_SIMPLE,
+						NULL);
+			if (md != NULL) {
+				/* TRANSLATORS: section header for long firmware desc */
+				fu_util_print_data (_("Description"), md);
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	return TRUE;