diff --git a/http2/databuffer.go b/http2/databuffer.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a3067f8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/http2/databuffer.go
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+// Copyright 2014 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package http2
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"sync"
+)
+
+// Buffer chunks are allocated from a pool to reduce pressure on GC.
+// The maximum wasted space per dataBuffer is 2x the largest size class,
+// which happens when the dataBuffer has multiple chunks and there is
+// one unread byte in both the first and last chunks. We use a few size
+// classes to minimize overheads for servers that typically receive very
+// small request bodies.
+//
+// TODO: Benchmark to determine if the pools are necessary. The GC may have
+// improved enough that we can instead allocate chunks like this:
+// make([]byte, max(16<<10, expectedBytesRemaining))
+var (
+	dataChunkSizeClasses = []int{
+		1 << 10,
+		2 << 10,
+		4 << 10,
+		8 << 10,
+		16 << 10,
+	}
+	dataChunkPools = [...]sync.Pool{
+		{New: func() interface{} { return make([]byte, 1<<10) }},
+		{New: func() interface{} { return make([]byte, 2<<10) }},
+		{New: func() interface{} { return make([]byte, 4<<10) }},
+		{New: func() interface{} { return make([]byte, 8<<10) }},
+		{New: func() interface{} { return make([]byte, 16<<10) }},
+	}
+)
+
+func getDataBufferChunk(size int64) []byte {
+	i := 0
+	for ; i < len(dataChunkSizeClasses)-1; i++ {
+		if size <= int64(dataChunkSizeClasses[i]) {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return dataChunkPools[i].Get().([]byte)
+}
+
+func putDataBufferChunk(p []byte) {
+	for i, n := range dataChunkSizeClasses {
+		if len(p) == n {
+			dataChunkPools[i].Put(p)
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	panic(fmt.Sprintf("unexpected buffer len=%v", len(p)))
+}
+
+// dataBuffer is an io.ReadWriter backed by a list of data chunks.
+// Each dataBuffer is used to read DATA frames on a single stream.
+// The buffer is divided into chunks so the server can limit the
+// total memory used by a single connection without limiting the
+// request body size on any single stream.
+type dataBuffer struct {
+	chunks   [][]byte
+	r        int   // next byte to read is chunks[0][r]
+	w        int   // next byte to write is chunks[len(chunks)-1][w]
+	size     int   // total buffered bytes
+	expected int64 // we expect at least this many bytes in future Write calls (ignored if <= 0)
+}
+
+var errReadEmpty = errors.New("read from empty dataBuffer")
+
+// Read copies bytes from the buffer into p.
+// It is an error to read when no data is available.
+func (b *dataBuffer) Read(p []byte) (int, error) {
+	if b.size == 0 {
+		return 0, errReadEmpty
+	}
+	var ntotal int
+	for len(p) > 0 && b.size > 0 {
+		readFrom := b.bytesFromFirstChunk()
+		n := copy(p, readFrom)
+		p = p[n:]
+		ntotal += n
+		b.r += n
+		b.size -= n
+		// If the first chunk has been consumed, advance to the next chunk.
+		if b.r == len(b.chunks[0]) {
+			putDataBufferChunk(b.chunks[0])
+			end := len(b.chunks) - 1
+			copy(b.chunks[:end], b.chunks[1:])
+			b.chunks[end] = nil
+			b.chunks = b.chunks[:end]
+			b.r = 0
+		}
+	}
+	return ntotal, nil
+}
+
+func (b *dataBuffer) bytesFromFirstChunk() []byte {
+	if len(b.chunks) == 1 {
+		return b.chunks[0][b.r:b.w]
+	}
+	return b.chunks[0][b.r:]
+}
+
+// Len returns the number of bytes of the unread portion of the buffer.
+func (b *dataBuffer) Len() int {
+	return b.size
+}
+
+// Write appends p to the buffer.
+func (b *dataBuffer) Write(p []byte) (int, error) {
+	ntotal := len(p)
+	for len(p) > 0 {
+		// If the last chunk is empty, allocate a new chunk. Try to allocate
+		// enough to fully copy p plus any additional bytes we expect to
+		// receive. However, this may allocate less than len(p).
+		want := int64(len(p))
+		if b.expected > want {
+			want = b.expected
+		}
+		chunk := b.lastChunkOrAlloc(want)
+		n := copy(chunk[b.w:], p)
+		p = p[n:]
+		b.w += n
+		b.size += n
+		b.expected -= int64(n)
+	}
+	return ntotal, nil
+}
+
+func (b *dataBuffer) lastChunkOrAlloc(want int64) []byte {
+	if len(b.chunks) != 0 {
+		last := b.chunks[len(b.chunks)-1]
+		if b.w < len(last) {
+			return last
+		}
+	}
+	chunk := getDataBufferChunk(want)
+	b.chunks = append(b.chunks, chunk)
+	b.w = 0
+	return chunk
+}
diff --git a/http2/databuffer_test.go b/http2/databuffer_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ca227b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/http2/databuffer_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+// Copyright 2017 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package http2
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func fmtDataChunk(chunk []byte) string {
+	out := ""
+	var last byte
+	var count int
+	for _, c := range chunk {
+		if c != last {
+			if count > 0 {
+				out += fmt.Sprintf(" x %d ", count)
+				count = 0
+			}
+			out += string([]byte{c})
+			last = c
+		}
+		count++
+	}
+	if count > 0 {
+		out += fmt.Sprintf(" x %d", count)
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func fmtDataChunks(chunks [][]byte) string {
+	var out string
+	for _, chunk := range chunks {
+		out += fmt.Sprintf("{%q}", fmtDataChunk(chunk))
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func testDataBuffer(t *testing.T, wantBytes []byte, setup func(t *testing.T) *dataBuffer) {
+	// Run setup, then read the remaining bytes from the dataBuffer and check
+	// that they match wantBytes. We use different read sizes to check corner
+	// cases in Read.
+	for _, readSize := range []int{1, 2, 1 * 1024, 32 * 1024} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("ReadSize=%d", readSize), func(t *testing.T) {
+			b := setup(t)
+			buf := make([]byte, readSize)
+			var gotRead bytes.Buffer
+			for {
+				n, err := b.Read(buf)
+				gotRead.Write(buf[:n])
+				if err == errReadEmpty {
+					break
+				}
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("error after %v bytes: %v", gotRead.Len(), err)
+				}
+			}
+			if got, want := gotRead.Bytes(), wantBytes; !bytes.Equal(got, want) {
+				t.Errorf("FinalRead=%q, want %q", fmtDataChunk(got), fmtDataChunk(want))
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDataBufferAllocation(t *testing.T) {
+	writes := [][]byte{
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("a"), 1*1024-1),
+		[]byte{'a'},
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("b"), 4*1024-1),
+		[]byte{'b'},
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("c"), 8*1024-1),
+		[]byte{'c'},
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("d"), 16*1024-1),
+		[]byte{'d'},
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("e"), 32*1024),
+	}
+	var wantRead bytes.Buffer
+	for _, p := range writes {
+		wantRead.Write(p)
+	}
+
+	testDataBuffer(t, wantRead.Bytes(), func(t *testing.T) *dataBuffer {
+		b := &dataBuffer{}
+		for _, p := range writes {
+			if n, err := b.Write(p); n != len(p) || err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("Write(%q x %d)=%v,%v want %v,nil", p[:1], len(p), n, err, len(p))
+			}
+		}
+		want := [][]byte{
+			bytes.Repeat([]byte("a"), 1*1024),
+			bytes.Repeat([]byte("b"), 4*1024),
+			bytes.Repeat([]byte("c"), 8*1024),
+			bytes.Repeat([]byte("d"), 16*1024),
+			bytes.Repeat([]byte("e"), 16*1024),
+			bytes.Repeat([]byte("e"), 16*1024),
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(b.chunks, want) {
+			t.Errorf("dataBuffer.chunks\ngot:  %s\nwant: %s", fmtDataChunks(b.chunks), fmtDataChunks(want))
+		}
+		return b
+	})
+}
+
+func TestDataBufferAllocationWithExpected(t *testing.T) {
+	writes := [][]byte{
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("a"), 1*1024), // allocates 16KB
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("b"), 14*1024),
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("c"), 15*1024), // allocates 16KB more
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("d"), 2*1024),
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("e"), 1*1024), // overflows 32KB expectation, allocates just 1KB
+	}
+	var wantRead bytes.Buffer
+	for _, p := range writes {
+		wantRead.Write(p)
+	}
+
+	testDataBuffer(t, wantRead.Bytes(), func(t *testing.T) *dataBuffer {
+		b := &dataBuffer{expected: 32 * 1024}
+		for _, p := range writes {
+			if n, err := b.Write(p); n != len(p) || err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("Write(%q x %d)=%v,%v want %v,nil", p[:1], len(p), n, err, len(p))
+			}
+		}
+		want := [][]byte{
+			append(bytes.Repeat([]byte("a"), 1*1024), append(bytes.Repeat([]byte("b"), 14*1024), bytes.Repeat([]byte("c"), 1*1024)...)...),
+			append(bytes.Repeat([]byte("c"), 14*1024), bytes.Repeat([]byte("d"), 2*1024)...),
+			bytes.Repeat([]byte("e"), 1*1024),
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(b.chunks, want) {
+			t.Errorf("dataBuffer.chunks\ngot:  %s\nwant: %s", fmtDataChunks(b.chunks), fmtDataChunks(want))
+		}
+		return b
+	})
+}
+
+func TestDataBufferWriteAfterPartialRead(t *testing.T) {
+	testDataBuffer(t, []byte("cdxyz"), func(t *testing.T) *dataBuffer {
+		b := &dataBuffer{}
+		if n, err := b.Write([]byte("abcd")); n != 4 || err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Write(\"abcd\")=%v,%v want 4,nil", n, err)
+		}
+		p := make([]byte, 2)
+		if n, err := b.Read(p); n != 2 || err != nil || !bytes.Equal(p, []byte("ab")) {
+			t.Fatalf("Read()=%q,%v,%v want \"ab\",2,nil", p, n, err)
+		}
+		if n, err := b.Write([]byte("xyz")); n != 3 || err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Write(\"xyz\")=%v,%v want 3,nil", n, err)
+		}
+		return b
+	})
+}
diff --git a/http2/fixed_buffer.go b/http2/fixed_buffer.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 47da0f0b..00000000
--- a/http2/fixed_buffer.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2014 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
-// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
-// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
-
-package http2
-
-import (
-	"errors"
-)
-
-// fixedBuffer is an io.ReadWriter backed by a fixed size buffer.
-// It never allocates, but moves old data as new data is written.
-type fixedBuffer struct {
-	buf  []byte
-	r, w int
-}
-
-var (
-	errReadEmpty = errors.New("read from empty fixedBuffer")
-	errWriteFull = errors.New("write on full fixedBuffer")
-)
-
-// Read copies bytes from the buffer into p.
-// It is an error to read when no data is available.
-func (b *fixedBuffer) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
-	if b.r == b.w {
-		return 0, errReadEmpty
-	}
-	n = copy(p, b.buf[b.r:b.w])
-	b.r += n
-	if b.r == b.w {
-		b.r = 0
-		b.w = 0
-	}
-	return n, nil
-}
-
-// Len returns the number of bytes of the unread portion of the buffer.
-func (b *fixedBuffer) Len() int {
-	return b.w - b.r
-}
-
-// Write copies bytes from p into the buffer.
-// It is an error to write more data than the buffer can hold.
-func (b *fixedBuffer) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
-	// Slide existing data to beginning.
-	if b.r > 0 && len(p) > len(b.buf)-b.w {
-		copy(b.buf, b.buf[b.r:b.w])
-		b.w -= b.r
-		b.r = 0
-	}
-
-	// Write new data.
-	n = copy(b.buf[b.w:], p)
-	b.w += n
-	if n < len(p) {
-		err = errWriteFull
-	}
-	return n, err
-}
diff --git a/http2/fixed_buffer_test.go b/http2/fixed_buffer_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index f5432f8d..00000000
--- a/http2/fixed_buffer_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,128 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2014 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
-// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
-// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
-
-package http2
-
-import (
-	"reflect"
-	"testing"
-)
-
-var bufferReadTests = []struct {
-	buf      fixedBuffer
-	read, wn int
-	werr     error
-	wp       []byte
-	wbuf     fixedBuffer
-}{
-	{
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{'a', 0}, 0, 1},
-		5, 1, nil, []byte{'a'},
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{'a', 0}, 0, 0},
-	},
-	{
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{0, 'a'}, 1, 2},
-		5, 1, nil, []byte{'a'},
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{0, 'a'}, 0, 0},
-	},
-	{
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{'a', 'b'}, 0, 2},
-		1, 1, nil, []byte{'a'},
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{'a', 'b'}, 1, 2},
-	},
-	{
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{}, 0, 0},
-		5, 0, errReadEmpty, []byte{},
-		fixedBuffer{[]byte{}, 0, 0},
-	},
-}
-
-func TestBufferRead(t *testing.T) {
-	for i, tt := range bufferReadTests {
-		read := make([]byte, tt.read)
-		n, err := tt.buf.Read(read)
-		if n != tt.wn {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: wn = %d want %d", i, n, tt.wn)
-			continue
-		}
-		if err != tt.werr {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: werr = %v want %v", i, err, tt.werr)
-			continue
-		}
-		read = read[:n]
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(read, tt.wp) {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: read = %+v want %+v", i, read, tt.wp)
-		}
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(tt.buf, tt.wbuf) {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: buf = %+v want %+v", i, tt.buf, tt.wbuf)
-		}
-	}
-}
-
-var bufferWriteTests = []struct {
-	buf       fixedBuffer
-	write, wn int
-	werr      error
-	wbuf      fixedBuffer
-}{
-	{
-		buf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{},
-		},
-		wbuf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{},
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		buf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{1, 'a'},
-		},
-		write: 1,
-		wn:    1,
-		wbuf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{0, 'a'},
-			w:   1,
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		buf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{'a', 1},
-			r:   1,
-			w:   1,
-		},
-		write: 2,
-		wn:    2,
-		wbuf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{0, 0},
-			w:   2,
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		buf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{},
-		},
-		write: 5,
-		werr:  errWriteFull,
-		wbuf: fixedBuffer{
-			buf: []byte{},
-		},
-	},
-}
-
-func TestBufferWrite(t *testing.T) {
-	for i, tt := range bufferWriteTests {
-		n, err := tt.buf.Write(make([]byte, tt.write))
-		if n != tt.wn {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: wrote %d bytes; want %d", i, n, tt.wn)
-			continue
-		}
-		if err != tt.werr {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: error = %v; want %v", i, err, tt.werr)
-			continue
-		}
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(tt.buf, tt.wbuf) {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: buf = %+v; want %+v", i, tt.buf, tt.wbuf)
-		}
-	}
-}
diff --git a/http2/server.go b/http2/server.go
index 3c641a8c..7e523f86 100644
--- a/http2/server.go
+++ b/http2/server.go
@@ -463,10 +463,9 @@ type stream struct {
 	numTrailerValues int64
 	weight           uint8
 	state            streamState
-	resetQueued      bool   // RST_STREAM queued for write; set by sc.resetStream
-	gotTrailerHeader bool   // HEADER frame for trailers was seen
-	wroteHeaders     bool   // whether we wrote headers (not status 100)
-	reqBuf           []byte // if non-nil, body pipe buffer to return later at EOF
+	resetQueued      bool // RST_STREAM queued for write; set by sc.resetStream
+	gotTrailerHeader bool // HEADER frame for trailers was seen
+	wroteHeaders     bool // whether we wrote headers (not status 100)
 
 	trailer    http.Header // accumulated trailers
 	reqTrailer http.Header // handler's Request.Trailer
@@ -1785,16 +1784,14 @@ func (sc *serverConn) newWriterAndRequest(st *stream, f *MetaHeadersFrame) (*res
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 	if bodyOpen {
-		st.reqBuf = getRequestBodyBuf()
-		req.Body.(*requestBody).pipe = &pipe{
-			b: &fixedBuffer{buf: st.reqBuf},
-		}
-
 		if vv, ok := rp.header["Content-Length"]; ok {
 			req.ContentLength, _ = strconv.ParseInt(vv[0], 10, 64)
 		} else {
 			req.ContentLength = -1
 		}
+		req.Body.(*requestBody).pipe = &pipe{
+			b: &dataBuffer{expected: req.ContentLength},
+		}
 	}
 	return rw, req, nil
 }
@@ -1890,24 +1887,6 @@ func (sc *serverConn) newWriterAndRequestNoBody(st *stream, rp requestParam) (*r
 	return rw, req, nil
 }
 
-var reqBodyCache = make(chan []byte, 8)
-
-func getRequestBodyBuf() []byte {
-	select {
-	case b := <-reqBodyCache:
-		return b
-	default:
-		return make([]byte, initialWindowSize)
-	}
-}
-
-func putRequestBodyBuf(b []byte) {
-	select {
-	case reqBodyCache <- b:
-	default:
-	}
-}
-
 // Run on its own goroutine.
 func (sc *serverConn) runHandler(rw *responseWriter, req *http.Request, handler func(http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request)) {
 	didPanic := true
@@ -2003,12 +1982,6 @@ func (sc *serverConn) noteBodyReadFromHandler(st *stream, n int, err error) {
 		case <-sc.doneServing:
 		}
 	}
-	if err == io.EOF {
-		if buf := st.reqBuf; buf != nil {
-			st.reqBuf = nil // shouldn't matter; field unused by other
-			putRequestBodyBuf(buf)
-		}
-	}
 }
 
 func (sc *serverConn) noteBodyRead(st *stream, n int) {
diff --git a/http2/transport.go b/http2/transport.go
index fef83968..84d042d4 100644
--- a/http2/transport.go
+++ b/http2/transport.go
@@ -1528,8 +1528,7 @@ func (rl *clientConnReadLoop) handleResponse(cs *clientStream, f *MetaHeadersFra
 		return res, nil
 	}
 
-	buf := new(bytes.Buffer) // TODO(bradfitz): recycle this garbage
-	cs.bufPipe = pipe{b: buf}
+	cs.bufPipe = pipe{b: &dataBuffer{expected: res.ContentLength}}
 	cs.bytesRemain = res.ContentLength
 	res.Body = transportResponseBody{cs}
 	go cs.awaitRequestCancel(cs.req)