diff --git a/clang/include/clang/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.h b/clang/include/clang/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.h
--- a/clang/include/clang/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.h
+++ b/clang/include/clang/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.h
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@
 
   std::unique_ptr<llvm::Module> loadModule(llvm::MemoryBufferRef MBRef);
 
+  /// Load bitcode modules to link into our module from the options.
+  bool loadLinkModules(CompilerInstance &CI);
+
 protected:
   /// Create a new code generation action.  If the optional \p _VMContext
   /// parameter is supplied, the action uses it without taking ownership,
diff --git a/clang/lib/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.cpp b/clang/lib/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.cpp
--- a/clang/lib/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.cpp
+++ b/clang/lib/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.cpp
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@
     }
 
     // Links each entry in LinkModules into our module.  Returns true on error.
-    bool LinkInModules() {
+    bool LinkInModules(llvm::Module *M = nullptr) {
       for (auto &LM : LinkModules) {
         assert(LM.Module && "LinkModule does not actually have a module");
         if (LM.PropagateAttrs)
@@ -280,14 +280,14 @@
         bool Err;
         if (LM.Internalize) {
           Err = Linker::linkModules(
-              *getModule(), std::move(LM.Module), LM.LinkFlags,
+              M ? *M : *getModule(), std::move(LM.Module), LM.LinkFlags,
               [](llvm::Module &M, const llvm::StringSet<> &GVS) {
                 internalizeModule(M, [&GVS](const llvm::GlobalValue &GV) {
                   return !GV.hasName() || (GVS.count(GV.getName()) == 0);
                 });
               });
         } else {
-          Err = Linker::linkModules(*getModule(), std::move(LM.Module),
+          Err = Linker::linkModules(M ? *M : *getModule(), std::move(LM.Module),
                                     LM.LinkFlags);
         }
 
@@ -993,6 +993,36 @@
     delete VMContext;
 }
 
+bool CodeGenAction::loadLinkModules(CompilerInstance &CI) {
+  if (!LinkModules.empty())
+    return false;
+
+  for (const CodeGenOptions::BitcodeFileToLink &F :
+       CI.getCodeGenOpts().LinkBitcodeFiles) {
+    auto BCBuf = CI.getFileManager().getBufferForFile(F.Filename);
+    if (!BCBuf) {
+      CI.getDiagnostics().Report(diag::err_cannot_open_file)
+          << F.Filename << BCBuf.getError().message();
+      LinkModules.clear();
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    Expected<std::unique_ptr<llvm::Module>> ModuleOrErr =
+        getOwningLazyBitcodeModule(std::move(*BCBuf), *VMContext);
+    if (!ModuleOrErr) {
+      handleAllErrors(ModuleOrErr.takeError(), [&](ErrorInfoBase &EIB) {
+        CI.getDiagnostics().Report(diag::err_cannot_open_file)
+            << F.Filename << EIB.message();
+      });
+      LinkModules.clear();
+      return true;
+    }
+    LinkModules.push_back({std::move(ModuleOrErr.get()), F.PropagateAttrs,
+                           F.Internalize, F.LinkFlags});
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
 bool CodeGenAction::hasIRSupport() const { return true; }
 
 void CodeGenAction::EndSourceFileAction() {
@@ -1050,30 +1080,8 @@
   VMContext->setOpaquePointers(CI.getCodeGenOpts().OpaquePointers);
 
   // Load bitcode modules to link with, if we need to.
-  if (LinkModules.empty())
-    for (const CodeGenOptions::BitcodeFileToLink &F :
-         CI.getCodeGenOpts().LinkBitcodeFiles) {
-      auto BCBuf = CI.getFileManager().getBufferForFile(F.Filename);
-      if (!BCBuf) {
-        CI.getDiagnostics().Report(diag::err_cannot_open_file)
-            << F.Filename << BCBuf.getError().message();
-        LinkModules.clear();
-        return nullptr;
-      }
-
-      Expected<std::unique_ptr<llvm::Module>> ModuleOrErr =
-          getOwningLazyBitcodeModule(std::move(*BCBuf), *VMContext);
-      if (!ModuleOrErr) {
-        handleAllErrors(ModuleOrErr.takeError(), [&](ErrorInfoBase &EIB) {
-          CI.getDiagnostics().Report(diag::err_cannot_open_file)
-              << F.Filename << EIB.message();
-        });
-        LinkModules.clear();
-        return nullptr;
-      }
-      LinkModules.push_back({std::move(ModuleOrErr.get()), F.PropagateAttrs,
-                             F.Internalize, F.LinkFlags});
-    }
+  if (loadLinkModules(CI))
+    return nullptr;
 
   CoverageSourceInfo *CoverageInfo = nullptr;
   // Add the preprocessor callback only when the coverage mapping is generated.
@@ -1143,6 +1151,10 @@
     return std::move(*MOrErr);
   }
 
+  // Load bitcode modules to link with, if we need to.
+  if (loadLinkModules(CI))
+    return nullptr;
+
   llvm::SMDiagnostic Err;
   if (std::unique_ptr<llvm::Module> M = parseIR(MBRef, Err, *VMContext))
     return M;
@@ -1222,6 +1234,8 @@
                          CI.getCodeGenOpts(), CI.getTargetOpts(),
                          CI.getLangOpts(), TheModule.get(),
                          std::move(LinkModules), *VMContext, nullptr);
+  if (Result.LinkInModules(&*TheModule))
+    return;
   // PR44896: Force DiscardValueNames as false. DiscardValueNames cannot be
   // true here because the valued names are needed for reading textual IR.
   Ctx.setDiscardValueNames(false);
diff --git a/clang/test/CodeGen/link-bitcode-file.c b/clang/test/CodeGen/link-bitcode-file.c
--- a/clang/test/CodeGen/link-bitcode-file.c
+++ b/clang/test/CodeGen/link-bitcode-file.c
@@ -11,6 +11,14 @@
 // RUN: not %clang_cc1 -triple i386-pc-linux-gnu -mlink-bitcode-file no-such-file.bc \
 // RUN:    -emit-llvm -o - %s 2>&1 | FileCheck -check-prefix=CHECK-NO-FILE %s
 
+// Make sure we can perform the same options if the input is LLVM-IR
+// RUN: %clang_cc1 -triple i386-pc-linux-gnu -emit-llvm-bc -o %t-in.bc %s
+// RUN: %clang_cc1 -triple i386-pc-linux-gnu -mlink-bitcode-file %t.bc \
+// RUN:     -O3 -emit-llvm -o - %t-in.bc | FileCheck -check-prefix=CHECK-NO-BC %s
+// RUN: %clang_cc1 -triple i386-pc-linux-gnu -O3 -emit-llvm -o - \
+// RUN:     -mlink-bitcode-file %t.bc -mlink-bitcode-file %t-2.bc %t-in.bc \
+// RUN:     | FileCheck -check-prefix=CHECK-NO-BC -check-prefix=CHECK-NO-BC2 %s
+
 int f(void);
 
 #ifdef BITCODE