diff --git a/benchmark/scenarios/body-json-512kb.js b/benchmark/scenarios/body-json-512kb.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1b8c6da6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/scenarios/body-json-512kb.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// The other body-parser scenario posts 57 bytes, which uWS hands over in a single
+// chunk, so it never exercises the accumulate path. This one is large enough to
+// arrive in several chunks and makes the cost of collecting a body visible.
+const PAD = 512 * 1024;
+
+module.exports = {
+    name: 'middlewares/body-json-512kb',
+    path: '/abc',
+    wrk: {
+        script: 'post-json-512kb.lua',
+        connections: 50
+    },
+    verify: {
+        method: 'POST',
+        headers: {
+            'Content-Type': 'application/json'
+        },
+        body: JSON.stringify({ n: 1, pad: 'x'.repeat(PAD) })
+    },
+    setup(app, express) {
+        app.use(express.json({ limit: '10mb' }));
+        app.post('/abc', (req, res) => {
+            res.send(`${req.body.pad.length}`);
+        });
+    }
+};
diff --git a/benchmark/wrk-scripts/post-json-512kb.lua b/benchmark/wrk-scripts/post-json-512kb.lua
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..41686fe4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/wrk-scripts/post-json-512kb.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+wrk.method = "POST"
+wrk.path = "/abc"
+wrk.headers["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
+
+local kb = 1024
+local pad = string.rep("x", 512 * kb)
+wrk.body = '{"n":1,"pad":"' .. pad .. '"}'
diff --git a/src/middlewares.js b/src/middlewares.js
index 36ed48e2..ffe7b81c 100644
--- a/src/middlewares.js
+++ b/src/middlewares.js
@@ -267,6 +267,32 @@ function createBodyParser(defaultType, beforeReturn) {
             // if we are fast enough (not async), we can do it
             // otherwise we need to use a stream since it already started streaming it
             if(!req.receivedData) {
+                // uWS can accumulate the whole body natively and hand it over in a single call,
+                // which skips one JS callback per chunk and the final Buffer.concat.
+                // not usable when inflating, since options.limit applies to the decompressed
+                // size while collectBody can only cap the compressed bytes it receives.
+                if(!inflate && Number.isFinite(options.limit)) {
+                    req._res.collectBody(options.limit, ab => {
+                        // uWS returns null when the body exceeded the limit
+                        if(ab === null) {
+                            return next(new Error('Request entity too large'));
+                        }
+                        // uWS may hand over memory it owns and detaches right after this call,
+                        // so only parsers that don't keep the buffer around can view it directly
+                        const buf = beforeReturn.retainsBuffer || options.verify
+                            ? Buffer.from(ab.slice(0))
+                            : Buffer.from(ab);
+                        if(options.verify) {
+                            try {
+                                options.verify(req, res, buf);
+                            } catch(e) {
+                                return next(e);
+                            }
+                        }
+                        beforeReturn(req, res, next, options, buf);
+                    });
+                    return;
+                }
                 req._res.onData((ab, isLast) => {
                     onData(ab);
                     if(isLast) {
@@ -300,10 +326,14 @@ const json = createBodyParser('application/json', function(req, res, next, optio
     next();
 });
 
-const raw = createBodyParser('application/octet-stream', function(req, res, next, options, buf) {
+function rawParser(req, res, next, options, buf) {
     req.body = buf;
     next();
-});
+}
+// req.body outlives the parser, so this one needs its own copy of the body
+rawParser.retainsBuffer = true;
+
+const raw = createBodyParser('application/octet-stream', rawParser);
 
 const text = createBodyParser('text/plain', function(req, res, next, options, buf) {
     let contentType = req.headers['content-type'];