diff --git a/lib/livebook/evaluator.ex b/lib/livebook/evaluator.ex
index f1f895721..5087f0a06 100644
--- a/lib/livebook/evaluator.ex
+++ b/lib/livebook/evaluator.ex
@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ defmodule Livebook.Evaluator do
           {context, response}
       end
 
+    Evaluator.IOProxy.flush(state.io_proxy)
+
     send_evaluation_response(send_to, ref, response, state.formatter)
 
     new_state = put_in(state.contexts[ref], result_context)
diff --git a/lib/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy.ex b/lib/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy.ex
index 18e7bd892..b62c61903 100644
--- a/lib/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy.ex
+++ b/lib/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy.ex
@@ -46,11 +46,19 @@ defmodule Livebook.Evaluator.IOProxy do
     GenServer.cast(pid, {:configure, target, ref})
   end
 
+  @doc """
+  Synchronously sends all buffer contents to the configured target process.
+  """
+  @spec flush(pid()) :: :ok
+  def flush(pid) do
+    GenServer.call(pid, :flush)
+  end
+
   ## Callbacks
 
   @impl true
   def init(_opts) do
-    {:ok, %{encoding: :unicode, target: nil, ref: nil}}
+    {:ok, %{encoding: :unicode, target: nil, ref: nil, buffer: []}}
   end
 
   @impl true
@@ -58,6 +66,11 @@ defmodule Livebook.Evaluator.IOProxy do
     {:noreply, %{state | target: target, ref: ref}}
   end
 
+  @impl true
+  def handle_call(:flush, _from, state) do
+    {:reply, :ok, flush_buffer(state)}
+  end
+
   @impl true
   def handle_info({:io_request, from, reply_as, req}, state) do
     {reply, state} = io_request(req, state)
@@ -65,6 +78,10 @@ defmodule Livebook.Evaluator.IOProxy do
     {:noreply, state}
   end
 
+  def handle_info(:flush, state) do
+    {:noreply, flush_buffer(state)}
+  end
+
   defp io_request({:put_chars, chars} = req, state) do
     put_chars(:latin1, chars, req, state)
   end
@@ -148,11 +165,11 @@ defmodule Livebook.Evaluator.IOProxy do
   defp put_chars(encoding, chars, req, state) do
     case :unicode.characters_to_binary(chars, encoding, state.encoding) do
       string when is_binary(string) ->
-        if state.target do
-          send(state.target, {:evaluation_stdout, state.ref, string})
+        if state.buffer == [] do
+          Process.send_after(self(), :flush, 50)
         end
 
-        {:ok, state}
+        {:ok, update_in(state.buffer, &buffer_append(&1, string))}
 
       {_, _, _} ->
         {{:error, req}, state}
@@ -164,4 +181,36 @@ defmodule Livebook.Evaluator.IOProxy do
   defp io_reply(from, reply_as, reply) do
     send(from, {:io_reply, reply_as, reply})
   end
+
+  def flush_buffer(state) do
+    string = state.buffer |> Enum.reverse() |> Enum.join()
+
+    if state.target != nil and string != "" do
+      send(state.target, {:evaluation_stdout, state.ref, string})
+    end
+
+    %{state | buffer: []}
+  end
+
+  defp buffer_append(buffer, text) do
+    # Sometimes there are intensive outputs that use \r
+    # to dynamically refresh the printd text.
+    # Since we buffer the messages anyway, it makes
+    # sense to send only the latest of these outputs.
+    # Note that \r works per-line, so if there are newlines
+    # we keep the buffer, but for \r-intensive operations
+    # there are usually no newlines involved, so this optimisation works fine.
+    if has_rewind?(text) and not has_newline?(text) and not Enum.any?(buffer, &has_newline?/1) do
+      [text]
+    else
+      [text | buffer]
+    end
+  end
+
+  # Checks for [\r][not \r] sequence in the given string.
+  defp has_rewind?(<<>>), do: false
+  defp has_rewind?(<<?\r, next, _rest::binary>>) when next != ?\r, do: true
+  defp has_rewind?(<<_head, rest::binary>>), do: has_rewind?(rest)
+
+  defp has_newline?(text), do: String.contains?(text, "\n")
 end
diff --git a/lib/livebook/session/data.ex b/lib/livebook/session/data.ex
index a1b68548b..a329ce0e9 100644
--- a/lib/livebook/session/data.ex
+++ b/lib/livebook/session/data.ex
@@ -512,11 +512,22 @@ defmodule Livebook.Session.Data do
 
   defp add_output([head | tail], output) when is_binary(head) and is_binary(output) do
     # Merge consecutive string outputs
-    [head <> output | tail]
+    [apply_rewind(head <> output) | tail]
   end
 
   defp add_output(outputs, output), do: [output | outputs]
 
+  # Respect \r indicating a line should be cleared,
+  # so we ignore unnecessary text fragments
+  defp apply_rewind(text) do
+    text
+    |> String.split("\n")
+    |> Enum.map(fn line ->
+      String.replace(line, ~r/^.*\r([^\r].*)$/, "\\1")
+    end)
+    |> Enum.join("\n")
+  end
+
   defp finish_cell_evaluation(data_actions, cell, section) do
     data_actions
     |> set_cell_info!(cell.id,
diff --git a/lib/livebook_web/helpers.ex b/lib/livebook_web/helpers.ex
index 274087d05..a74062617 100644
--- a/lib/livebook_web/helpers.ex
+++ b/lib/livebook_web/helpers.ex
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ defmodule LivebookWeb.Helpers do
         content
         |> IO.iodata_to_binary()
         |> String.split("\n")
-        |> Enum.map(&apply_rewind/1)
         |> Enum.map(&LivebookWeb.ANSI.default_renderer(style, &1))
         |> Enum.intersperse("\n")
       end
@@ -69,12 +68,4 @@ defmodule LivebookWeb.Helpers do
     |> String.split("\n")
     |> Enum.map(&Phoenix.HTML.raw/1)
   end
-
-  # Respect \r indicating the line should be cleared
-  defp apply_rewind(line) do
-    line
-    |> String.split("\r")
-    |> Enum.reverse()
-    |> Enum.find("", &(&1 != ""))
-  end
 end
diff --git a/test/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy_test.exs b/test/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy_test.exs
index 031d7916b..2ccbc4c07 100644
--- a/test/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy_test.exs
+++ b/test/livebook/evaluator/io_proxy_test.exs
@@ -9,28 +9,46 @@ defmodule Livebook.Evaluator.IOProxyTest do
     %{io: io}
   end
 
-  # Test the basic ways users interact with :stdio
+  describe ":stdio interoperability" do
+    test "IO.puts", %{io: io} do
+      IO.puts(io, "hey")
+      assert_receive {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "hey\n"}
+    end
 
-  test "IO.puts", %{io: io} do
+    test "IO.write", %{io: io} do
+      IO.write(io, "hey")
+      assert_receive {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "hey"}
+    end
+
+    test "IO.inspect", %{io: io} do
+      IO.inspect(io, %{}, [])
+      assert_receive {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "%{}\n"}
+    end
+
+    test "IO.read", %{io: io} do
+      assert IO.read(io, :all) == {:error, :enotsup}
+    end
+
+    test "IO.gets", %{io: io} do
+      assert IO.gets(io, "> ") == {:error, :enotsup}
+    end
+  end
+
+  test "buffers rapid output", %{io: io} do
     IO.puts(io, "hey")
+    IO.puts(io, "hey")
+    assert_receive {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "hey\nhey\n"}
+  end
+
+  test "respects CR as line cleaner", %{io: io} do
+    IO.write(io, "hey")
+    IO.write(io, "\roverride\r")
+    assert_receive {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "\roverride\r"}
+  end
+
+  test "flush/1 synchronously sends buffer contents", %{io: io} do
+    IO.puts(io, "hey")
+    IOProxy.flush(io)
     assert_received {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "hey\n"}
   end
-
-  test "IO.write", %{io: io} do
-    IO.write(io, "hey")
-    assert_received {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "hey"}
-  end
-
-  test "IO.inspect", %{io: io} do
-    IO.inspect(io, %{}, [])
-    assert_received {:evaluation_stdout, :ref, "%{}\n"}
-  end
-
-  test "IO.read", %{io: io} do
-    assert IO.read(io, :all) == {:error, :enotsup}
-  end
-
-  test "IO.gets", %{io: io} do
-    assert IO.gets(io, "> ") == {:error, :enotsup}
-  end
 end
diff --git a/test/livebook/session/data_test.exs b/test/livebook/session/data_test.exs
index e07fb689e..f518caf08 100644
--- a/test/livebook/session/data_test.exs
+++ b/test/livebook/session/data_test.exs
@@ -606,7 +606,7 @@ defmodule Livebook.Session.DataTest do
           {:insert_section, self(), 0, "s1"},
           {:insert_cell, self(), "s1", 0, :elixir, "c1"},
           {:queue_cell_evaluation, self(), "c1"},
-          {:add_cell_evaluation_stdout, self(), "c1", "Hello"}
+          {:add_cell_evaluation_stdout, self(), "c1", "Hola"}
         ])
 
       operation = {:add_cell_evaluation_stdout, self(), "c1", " amigo!"}
@@ -616,7 +616,30 @@ defmodule Livebook.Session.DataTest do
                 notebook: %{
                   sections: [
                     %{
-                      cells: [%{outputs: ["Hello amigo!"]}]
+                      cells: [%{outputs: ["Hola amigo!"]}]
+                    }
+                  ]
+                }
+              }, []} = Data.apply_operation(data, operation)
+    end
+
+    test "normalizes consecutive stdout results to respect CR" do
+      data =
+        data_after_operations!([
+          {:insert_section, self(), 0, "s1"},
+          {:insert_cell, self(), "s1", 0, :elixir, "c1"},
+          {:queue_cell_evaluation, self(), "c1"},
+          {:add_cell_evaluation_stdout, self(), "c1", "Hola"}
+        ])
+
+      operation = {:add_cell_evaluation_stdout, self(), "c1", "\ramigo!\r"}
+
+      assert {:ok,
+              %{
+                notebook: %{
+                  sections: [
+                    %{
+                      cells: [%{outputs: ["amigo!\r"]}]
                     }
                   ]
                 }
diff --git a/test/livebook_web/helpers_test.exs b/test/livebook_web/helpers_test.exs
index 1a1413c9e..255477f58 100644
--- a/test/livebook_web/helpers_test.exs
+++ b/test/livebook_web/helpers_test.exs
@@ -11,12 +11,5 @@ defmodule LivebookWeb.HelpersTest do
              ] ==
                Helpers.ansi_to_html_lines("\e[34msmiley\ncat\e[0m")
     end
-
-    test "respects CR as line cleaner" do
-      assert [
-               {:safe, ~s{<span style="color: var(--ansi-color-blue);">cat</span>}}
-             ] ==
-               Helpers.ansi_to_html_lines("\e[34msmiley\rcat\r\e[0m")
-    end
   end
 end