diff --git a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/engine/server/HttpServer.scala b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/engine/server/HttpServer.scala
index 785fdd68e5..7b125f196d 100644
--- a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/engine/server/HttpServer.scala
+++ b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/engine/server/HttpServer.scala
@@ -70,9 +70,9 @@ private[http] object HttpServer {
           case (_, src) ⇒ src.runWith(BlackholeSink)
         }.collect {
           case r: HttpRequest ⇒ r
-        }.buffer(1, OverflowStrategy.backpressure) 
-        // FIXME #16583 it is unclear why this is needed, some element probably does not propagate demand eagerly enough
-        // the failing test would be HttpServerSpec
+        }.buffer(1, OverflowStrategy.backpressure)
+    // FIXME #16583 it is unclear why this is needed, some element probably does not propagate demand eagerly enough
+    // the failing test would be HttpServerSpec
 
     // we need to make sure that only one element per incoming request is queueing up in front of
     // the bypassMerge.bypassInput. Otherwise the rising backpressure against the bypassFanout
diff --git a/akka-http-tests/src/test/scala/akka/http/coding/CoderSpec.scala b/akka-http-tests/src/test/scala/akka/http/coding/CoderSpec.scala
index 082036308d..7429e539f6 100644
--- a/akka-http-tests/src/test/scala/akka/http/coding/CoderSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-http-tests/src/test/scala/akka/http/coding/CoderSpec.scala
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import akka.http.util._
 
 import akka.http.model.HttpMethods._
 import akka.http.model.{ HttpEntity, HttpRequest }
-import akka.stream.scaladsl.Source
+import akka.stream.scaladsl.{ Sink, Source }
 import akka.util.ByteString
 
 import scala.util.control.NoStackTrace
@@ -104,9 +104,9 @@ abstract class CoderSpec extends WordSpec with CodecSpecSupport with Inspectors
       val compressed = streamEncode(ByteString(array))
       val limit = 10000
       val resultBs =
-        Source.singleton(compressed)
+        Source.single(compressed)
           .via(Coder.withMaxBytesPerChunk(limit).decoderFlow)
-          .collectAll
+          .grouped(4200).runWith(Sink.head)
           .awaitResult(1.second)
 
       forAll(resultBs) { bs ⇒
diff --git a/akka-http/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-http/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 7c8a4d5f36..5ce63ffed3 100644
--- a/akka-http/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-http/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -32,4 +32,8 @@ akka.http.routing {
   # The maximum number of allowed ranges per request.
   # Requests with more ranges will be rejected due to DOS suspicion.
   range-count-limit = 16
+
+  # The maximum number of bytes per ByteString a decoding directive will produce
+  # for an entity data stream.
+  decode-max-bytes-per-chunk = 1m
 }
diff --git a/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/RoutingSettings.scala b/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/RoutingSettings.scala
index bf500898ff..b01db533fd 100644
--- a/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/RoutingSettings.scala
+++ b/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/RoutingSettings.scala
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ case class RoutingSettings(
   fileGetConditional: Boolean,
   renderVanityFooter: Boolean,
   rangeCountLimit: Int,
-  rangeCoalescingThreshold: Long)
+  rangeCoalescingThreshold: Long,
+  decodeMaxBytesPerChunk: Int)
 
 object RoutingSettings extends SettingsCompanion[RoutingSettings]("akka.http.routing") {
   def fromSubConfig(c: Config) = apply(
@@ -21,7 +22,8 @@ object RoutingSettings extends SettingsCompanion[RoutingSettings]("akka.http.rou
     c getBoolean "file-get-conditional",
     c getBoolean "render-vanity-footer",
     c getInt "range-count-limit",
-    c getBytes "range-coalescing-threshold")
+    c getBytes "range-coalescing-threshold",
+    c getIntBytes "decode-max-bytes-per-chunk")
 
   implicit def default(implicit refFactory: ActorRefFactory) =
     apply(actorSystem)
diff --git a/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/directives/CodingDirectives.scala b/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/directives/CodingDirectives.scala
index ccd1d44cab..e4494daea8 100644
--- a/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/directives/CodingDirectives.scala
+++ b/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/server/directives/CodingDirectives.scala
@@ -57,12 +57,13 @@ trait CodingDirectives {
    */
   def decodeRequest(decoder: Decoder): Directive0 = {
     def applyDecoder =
-      mapRequest(decoder.decode(_).mapEntity(StreamUtils.mapEntityError {
-        case NonFatal(e) ⇒
-          IllegalRequestException(
-            StatusCodes.BadRequest,
-            ErrorInfo("The request's encoding is corrupt", e.getMessage))
-      }))
+      extractSettings.flatMap(settings ⇒
+        mapRequest(decoder.withMaxBytesPerChunk(settings.decodeMaxBytesPerChunk).decode(_).mapEntity(StreamUtils.mapEntityError {
+          case NonFatal(e) ⇒
+            IllegalRequestException(
+              StatusCodes.BadRequest,
+              ErrorInfo("The request's encoding is corrupt", e.getMessage))
+        })))
 
     requestEntityEmpty | (
       requestEncodedWith(decoder.encoding) &