diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d3942127331..be7feee83b3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@
 
     TypeScript recently [added support for `ES2021`](https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/pull/41239) in `tsconfig.json` so esbuild now supports this too. This has the same effect as if you passed `--target=es2021` to esbuild. Keep in mind that the value of `target` in `tsconfig.json` is only respected if you did not pass a `--target=` value to esbuild.
 
+* Avoid using the `worker_threads` optimization in certain old node versions ([#1462](https://github.com/evanw/esbuild/issues/1462))
+
+    The `worker_threads` optimization makes esbuild's synchronous API calls go much faster than they would otherwise. However, it turns out this optimization cannot be used in certain node versions older than `v12.17.0`, where node throws an error when trying to create the worker. This optimization is now disabled in these scenarios.
+
+    Note that these old node versions are [currently in maintenance](https://nodejs.org/en/about/releases/). I recommend upgrading to a modern version of node if run-time performance is important to you.
+
 ## 0.12.15
 
 * Fix a bug with `var()` in CSS color lowering ([#1421](https://github.com/evanw/esbuild/issues/1421))
diff --git a/lib/npm/node.ts b/lib/npm/node.ts
index c538f493e31..6256786845d 100644
--- a/lib/npm/node.ts
+++ b/lib/npm/node.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,21 @@ if (process.env.ESBUILD_WORKER_THREADS !== '0') {
     worker_threads = require('worker_threads');
   } catch {
   }
+
+  // Creating a worker in certain node versions doesn't work. The specific
+  // error is "TypeError: MessagePort was found in message but not listed
+  // in transferList". See: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/32250.
+  // We just pretend worker threads are unavailable in these cases.
+  let [major, minor] = process.versions.node.split('.');
+  if (
+    // <v12.17.0 does not work
+    +major < 12 || (+major === 12 && +minor < 17)
+
+    // >=v13.0.0 && <v13.13.0 also does not work
+    || (+major === 13 && +minor < 13)
+  ) {
+    worker_threads = void 0;
+  }
 }
 
 // This should only be true if this is our internal worker thread. We want this