diff --git a/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb b/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
index a53d4a68..22a019ad 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ module Linguist
     #
     # Returns an Array of lines
     def lines
-      @lines ||= data ? data.split("\n", -1) : []
+      @lines ||= (viewable? && data) ? data.split("\n", -1) : []
     end
 
     # Public: Get number of lines of code