diff --git a/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py
index 641e6693..40ce1403 100644
--- a/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py
+++ b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py
@@ -81,9 +81,6 @@ async def telegram_reply_to_matrix(evt: Message, source: au.AbstractUser) -> Rel
 async def _add_forward_header(
     source: au.AbstractUser, content: TextMessageEventContent, fwd_from: MessageFwdHeader
 ) -> None:
-    if not content.formatted_body or content.format != Format.HTML:
-        content.format = Format.HTML
-        content.formatted_body = escape(content.body)
     fwd_from_html, fwd_from_text = None, None
     if isinstance(fwd_from.from_id, PeerUser):
         user = await u.User.get_by_tgid(TelegramID(fwd_from.from_id.user_id))
@@ -139,6 +136,7 @@ async def _add_forward_header(
         fwd_from_text = "unknown source"
         fwd_from_html = f"unknown source"
 
+    content.ensure_has_html()
     content.body = "\n".join([f"> {line}" for line in content.body.split("\n")])
     content.body = f"Forwarded from {fwd_from_text}:\n{content.body}"
     content.formatted_body = (
@@ -195,16 +193,11 @@ async def telegram_to_matrix(
         html = await _telegram_entities_to_matrix_catch(add_surrogate(content.body), entities)
         content.formatted_body = del_surrogate(html)
 
-    def force_html():
-        if not content.formatted_body:
-            content.format = Format.HTML
-            content.formatted_body = escape(content.body).replace("\n", "<br/>")
-
     if require_html:
-        force_html()
+        content.ensure_has_html()
 
     if prefix_html:
-        force_html()
+        content.ensure_has_html()
         content.formatted_body = prefix_html + content.formatted_body
     if prefix_text:
         content.body = prefix_text + content.body
@@ -216,7 +209,7 @@ async def telegram_to_matrix(
         await _add_reply_header(source, content, evt, main_intent)
 
     if isinstance(evt, Message) and evt.post and evt.post_author:
-        force_html()
+        content.ensure_has_html()
         content.body += f"\n- {evt.post_author}"
         content.formatted_body += f"<br/><i>- <u>{evt.post_author}</u></i>"
 
diff --git a/mautrix_telegram/portal.py b/mautrix_telegram/portal.py
index 04ebea50..a50b57c2 100644
--- a/mautrix_telegram/portal.py
+++ b/mautrix_telegram/portal.py
@@ -1503,7 +1503,9 @@ class Portal(DBPortal, BasePortal):
         return ruds[self.hash_user_id(user_id) % len(ruds)] if ruds else ""
 
     async def _apply_msg_format(self, sender: u.User, content: MessageEventContent) -> None:
-        if not isinstance(content, TextMessageEventContent) or content.format != Format.HTML:
+        if isinstance(content, TextMessageEventContent):
+            content.ensure_has_html()
+        else:
             content.format = Format.HTML
             content.formatted_body = escape_html(content.body).replace("\n", "<br/>")
 
@@ -1524,9 +1526,7 @@ class Portal(DBPortal, BasePortal):
         content.formatted_body = Template(tpl).safe_substitute(tpl_args)
 
     async def _apply_emote_format(self, sender: u.User, content: TextMessageEventContent) -> None:
-        if content.format != Format.HTML:
-            content.format = Format.HTML
-            content.formatted_body = escape_html(content.body).replace("\n", "<br/>")
+        content.ensure_has_html()
 
         tpl = self.get_config("emote_format")
         puppet = await p.Puppet.get_by_tgid(sender.tgid)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index d28b1511..edf66f7f 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ python-magic>=0.4,<0.5
 commonmark>=0.8,<0.10
 aiohttp>=3,<4
 yarl>=1,<2
-mautrix>=0.15.0,<0.16
+mautrix>=0.15.1,<0.16
 #telethon>=1.24,<1.25
 # Fork to make session storage async and update to layer 138
 tulir-telethon==1.25.0a5