diff --git a/.changeset/light-meals-press.md b/.changeset/light-meals-press.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..69b8f938892d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/light-meals-press.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'astro': patch
+---
+
+Skips updating content layer files if content is unchanged
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/content/mutable-data-store.ts b/packages/astro/src/content/mutable-data-store.ts
index 7f125ed4b4d3..23ea782ba587 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/content/mutable-data-store.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/content/mutable-data-store.ts
@@ -213,6 +213,11 @@ export default new Map([\n${lines.join(',\n')}]);
 
 		const tempFile = filePath instanceof URL ? new URL(`${filePath.href}.tmp`) : `${filePath}.tmp`;
 		try {
+			const oldData = await fs.readFile(filePath, 'utf-8').catch(() => '');
+			if (oldData === data) {
+				// If the data hasn't changed, we can skip the write
+				return;
+			}
 			// Write it to a temporary file first and then move it to prevent partial reads.
 			await fs.writeFile(tempFile, data);
 			await fs.rename(tempFile, filePath);