diff --git a/doc/api/streams.markdown b/doc/api/streams.markdown
index 441c608ca7f..6637b395447 100644
--- a/doc/api/streams.markdown
+++ b/doc/api/streams.markdown
@@ -93,9 +93,6 @@ This keeps `process.stdout` open so that "Goodbye" can be written at the end.
       process.stdout.write("Goodbye\n");
     });
 
-NOTE: If the source stream does not support `pause()` and `resume()`, this function
-adds simple definitions which simply emit `'pause'` and `'resume'` events on
-the source stream.
 
 ## Writable Stream
 
diff --git a/lib/stream.js b/lib/stream.js
index 2869e8248fb..90d4d5cca91 100644
--- a/lib/stream.js
+++ b/lib/stream.js
@@ -33,14 +33,18 @@ Stream.prototype.pipe = function(dest, options) {
 
   function ondata(chunk) {
     if (dest.writable) {
-      if (false === dest.write(chunk)) source.pause();
+      if (false === dest.write(chunk) && source.pause) {
+        source.pause();
+      }
     }
   }
 
   source.on('data', ondata);
 
   function ondrain() {
-    if (source.readable) source.resume();
+    if (source.readable && source.resume) {
+      source.resume();
+    }
   }
 
   dest.on('drain', ondrain);
@@ -103,32 +107,6 @@ Stream.prototype.pipe = function(dest, options) {
   source.on('error', onerror);
   dest.on('error', onerror);
 
-  // guarantee that source streams can be paused and resumed, even
-  // if the only effect is to proxy the event back up the pipe chain.
-  if (!source.pause) {
-    source.pause = function() {
-      source.emit('pause');
-    };
-  }
-
-  if (!source.resume) {
-    source.resume = function() {
-      source.emit('resume');
-    };
-  }
-
-  function onpause() {
-    source.pause();
-  }
-
-  dest.on('pause', onpause);
-
-  function onresume() {
-    if (source.readable) source.resume();
-  }
-
-  dest.on('resume', onresume);
-
   // remove all the event listeners that were added.
   function cleanup() {
     source.removeListener('data', ondata);
@@ -137,9 +115,6 @@ Stream.prototype.pipe = function(dest, options) {
     source.removeListener('end', onend);
     source.removeListener('close', onclose);
 
-    dest.removeListener('pause', onpause);
-    dest.removeListener('resume', onresume);
-
     source.removeListener('error', onerror);
     dest.removeListener('error', onerror);
 
diff --git a/lib/util.js b/lib/util.js
index a13a70d3d84..bb6b840bcc7 100644
--- a/lib/util.js
+++ b/lib/util.js
@@ -466,30 +466,14 @@ exports.pump = function(readStream, writeStream, callback) {
     }
   }
 
-  if (!readStream.pause) {
-    readStream.pause = function() {readStream.emit('pause');};
-  }
-
-  if (!readStream.resume) {
-    readStream.resume = function() {readStream.emit('resume');};
-  }
-
   readStream.addListener('data', function(chunk) {
     if (writeStream.write(chunk) === false) readStream.pause();
   });
 
-  writeStream.addListener('pause', function() {
-    readStream.pause();
-  });
-
   writeStream.addListener('drain', function() {
     readStream.resume();
   });
 
-  writeStream.addListener('resume', function() {
-    readStream.resume();
-  });
-
   readStream.addListener('end', function() {
     writeStream.end();
   });