diff --git a/source/blender/render/intern/pipeline.cc b/source/blender/render/intern/pipeline.cc
index 519b3ade548..af51b702ef2 100644
--- a/source/blender/render/intern/pipeline.cc
+++ b/source/blender/render/intern/pipeline.cc
@@ -1373,6 +1373,14 @@ static void do_render_compositor(Render *re)
           /* If we have consistent depsgraph now would be a time to update them. */
         }
 
+        blender::compositor::OutputTypes needed_outputs =
+            blender::compositor::OutputTypes::Composite |
+            blender::compositor::OutputTypes::FileOutput;
+        if (!G.background) {
+          needed_outputs |= blender::compositor::OutputTypes::Viewer |
+                            blender::compositor::OutputTypes::Previews;
+        }
+
         blender::compositor::RenderContext compositor_render_context;
         LISTBASE_FOREACH (RenderView *, rv, &re->result->views) {
           COM_execute(re,
@@ -1382,8 +1390,7 @@ static void do_render_compositor(Render *re)
                       rv->name,
                       &compositor_render_context,
                       nullptr,
-                      blender::compositor::OutputTypes::Composite |
-                          blender::compositor::OutputTypes::FileOutput);
+                      needed_outputs);
         }
         compositor_render_context.save_file_outputs(re->pipeline_scene_eval);