diff --git a/benchmark/util/strip-vt-control-characters.js b/benchmark/util/strip-vt-control-characters.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a83b03bb2bb26d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/util/strip-vt-control-characters.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common.js');
+
+const { stripVTControlCharacters } = require('node:util');
+const assert = require('node:assert');
+
+const bench = common.createBenchmark(main, {
+  input: ['noAnsi-short', 'noAnsi-long', 'ansi-short', 'ansi-long'],
+  n: [1e6],
+});
+
+function main({ input, n }) {
+  let str;
+  switch (input) {
+    case 'noAnsi-short':
+      str = 'This is a plain text string without any ANSI codes';
+      break;
+    case 'noAnsi-long':
+      str = 'Long plain text without ANSI. '.repeat(333);
+      break;
+    case 'ansi-short':
+      str = '\u001B[31mHello\u001B[39m';
+      break;
+    case 'ansi-long':
+      str = ('\u001B[31m' + 'colored text '.repeat(10) + '\u001B[39m').repeat(10);
+      break;
+  }
+
+  bench.start();
+  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+    const result = stripVTControlCharacters(str);
+    assert.ok(typeof result === 'string');
+  }
+  bench.end(n);
+}
diff --git a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
index 3d0787e8d1a9b7..c39183e6a6c20a 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
@@ -3036,6 +3036,10 @@ if (internalBinding('config').hasIntl) {
 function stripVTControlCharacters(str) {
   validateString(str, 'str');
 
+  if (!StringPrototypeIncludes(str, '\u001B') &&
+      !StringPrototypeIncludes(str, '\u009B'))
+    return str;
+
   return RegExpPrototypeSymbolReplace(ansi, str, '');
 }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-util.js b/test/parallel/test-util.js
index 1ecddc829a0fdb..ad6c8142b27d0b 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-util.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-util.js
@@ -87,3 +87,13 @@ assert.throws(() => {
   message: 'The "str" argument must be of type string.' +
            common.invalidArgTypeHelper({})
 });
+
+// stripVTControlCharacters: fast path returns input when no ANSI codes
+assert.strictEqual(util.stripVTControlCharacters('hello'), 'hello');
+assert.strictEqual(util.stripVTControlCharacters(''), '');
+
+// stripVTControlCharacters: strips 7-bit ESC sequences
+assert.strictEqual(util.stripVTControlCharacters('\u001B[31mfoo\u001B[39m'), 'foo');
+
+// stripVTControlCharacters: strips 8-bit CSI sequences
+assert.strictEqual(util.stripVTControlCharacters('\u009B31mfoo\u009B39m'), 'foo');