diff --git a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
index 5c3b092a1a9..b710ff79f17 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
+++ b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
@@ -99,13 +99,13 @@ ANSIBLE_PIPELINING:
   name: Connection pipelining
   default: False
   description:
+    - This is a global option, each connection plugin can override either by having more specific options or not supporting pipelining at all.
     - Pipelining, if supported by the connection plugin, reduces the number of network operations required to execute a module on the remote server,
       by executing many Ansible modules without actual file transfer.
-    - This can result in a very significant performance improvement when enabled.
+    - It can result in a very significant performance improvement when enabled.
     - "However this conflicts with privilege escalation (become). For example, when using 'sudo:' operations you must first
       disable 'requiretty' in /etc/sudoers on all managed hosts, which is why it is disabled by default."
-    - This option is disabled if ``ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES`` is enabled.
-    - This is a global option, each connection plugin can override either by having more specific options or not supporting pipelining at all.
+    - This setting will be disabled if ``ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES`` is enabled.
   env:
     - name: ANSIBLE_PIPELINING
   ini:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
index 7b351142248..f6c0ba20275 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
@@ -216,6 +216,8 @@ DOCUMENTATION = '''
             - name: ANSIBLE_PIPELINING
             - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_PIPELINING
           ini:
+            - section: defaults
+              key: pipelining
             - section: connection
               key: pipelining
             - section: ssh_connection
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/doc_fragments/connection_pipelining.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/doc_fragments/connection_pipelining.py
index c1031447406..e2d5e70aba7 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/doc_fragments/connection_pipelining.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/doc_fragments/connection_pipelining.py
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ options:
           ini:
             - section: defaults
               key: pipelining
+            - section: connection
+              key: pipelining
           type: boolean
           vars:
             - name: ansible_pipelining