diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpServerTransport.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpServerTransport.java
index 5fae4cb4beac2..fcaebcb61c010 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpServerTransport.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/netty4/Netty4HttpServerTransport.java
@@ -61,8 +61,9 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.http.HttpServerChannel;
 import org.elasticsearch.http.netty4.cors.Netty4CorsHandler;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
-import org.elasticsearch.transport.SharedGroupFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.NettyAllocator;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.NettyByteBufSizer;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.SharedGroupFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.netty4.Netty4Utils;
 
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
@@ -284,6 +285,7 @@ public ChannelHandler configureServerChannelHandler() {
     protected static class HttpChannelHandler extends ChannelInitializer<Channel> {
 
         private final Netty4HttpServerTransport transport;
+        private final NettyByteBufSizer byteBufSizer;
         private final Netty4HttpRequestCreator requestCreator;
         private final Netty4HttpRequestHandler requestHandler;
         private final HttpHandlingSettings handlingSettings;
@@ -291,6 +293,7 @@ protected static class HttpChannelHandler extends ChannelInitializer<Channel> {
         protected HttpChannelHandler(final Netty4HttpServerTransport transport, final HttpHandlingSettings handlingSettings) {
             this.transport = transport;
             this.handlingSettings = handlingSettings;
+            this.byteBufSizer =  new NettyByteBufSizer();
             this.requestCreator =  new Netty4HttpRequestCreator();
             this.requestHandler = new Netty4HttpRequestHandler(transport);
         }
@@ -299,6 +302,7 @@ protected HttpChannelHandler(final Netty4HttpServerTransport transport, final Ht
         protected void initChannel(Channel ch) throws Exception {
             Netty4HttpChannel nettyHttpChannel = new Netty4HttpChannel(ch);
             ch.attr(HTTP_CHANNEL_KEY).set(nettyHttpChannel);
+            ch.pipeline().addLast("byte_buf_sizer", byteBufSizer);
             ch.pipeline().addLast("read_timeout", new ReadTimeoutHandler(transport.readTimeoutMillis, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS));
             final HttpRequestDecoder decoder = new HttpRequestDecoder(
                 handlingSettings.getMaxInitialLineLength(),
diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/NettyByteBufSizer.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/NettyByteBufSizer.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e2eadf5690be2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/NettyByteBufSizer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.transport;
+
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandler;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.MessageToMessageDecoder;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+@ChannelHandler.Sharable
+public class NettyByteBufSizer extends MessageToMessageDecoder<ByteBuf> {
+
+    @Override
+    protected void decode(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, ByteBuf buf, List<Object> out) {
+        int readableBytes = buf.readableBytes();
+        if (buf.capacity() >= 1024) {
+            ByteBuf resized = buf.discardReadBytes().capacity(readableBytes);
+            assert resized.readableBytes() == readableBytes;
+            out.add(resized.retain());
+        } else {
+            out.add(buf.retain());
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java
index 9c9147b17401b..001392f500554 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java
@@ -53,8 +53,9 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.core.internal.net.NetUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.breaker.CircuitBreakerService;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
-import org.elasticsearch.transport.SharedGroupFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.NettyAllocator;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.NettyByteBufSizer;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.SharedGroupFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TcpTransport;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportSettings;
 
@@ -327,6 +328,7 @@ public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) throws E
     protected class ServerChannelInitializer extends ChannelInitializer<Channel> {
 
         protected final String name;
+        private final NettyByteBufSizer sizer = new NettyByteBufSizer();
 
         protected ServerChannelInitializer(String name) {
             this.name = name;
@@ -337,6 +339,7 @@ protected void initChannel(Channel ch) throws Exception {
             addClosedExceptionLogger(ch);
             Netty4TcpChannel nettyTcpChannel = new Netty4TcpChannel(ch, true, name, ch.newSucceededFuture());
             ch.attr(CHANNEL_KEY).set(nettyTcpChannel);
+            ch.pipeline().addLast("byte_buf_sizer", sizer);
             ch.pipeline().addLast("logging", new ESLoggingHandler());
             ch.pipeline().addLast("dispatcher", new Netty4MessageChannelHandler(pageCacheRecycler, Netty4Transport.this));
             serverAcceptedChannel(nettyTcpChannel);