diff --git a/docs/compiling.rst b/docs/compiling.rst
index 4ae9234e1..2b543be0b 100644
--- a/docs/compiling.rst
+++ b/docs/compiling.rst
@@ -505,7 +505,10 @@ You can use these targets to build complex applications. For example, the
     target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE pybind11::module pybind11::lto pybind11::windows_extras)
 
     pybind11_extension(example)
-    pybind11_strip(example)
+    if(NOT MSVC AND NOT ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} MATCHES Debug|RelWithDebInfo)
+        # Strip unnecessary sections of the binary on Linux/macOS
+        pybind11_strip(example)
+    endif()
 
     set_target_properties(example PROPERTIES CXX_VISIBILITY_PRESET "hidden"
                                              CUDA_VISIBILITY_PRESET "hidden")