diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index c36d49fce..7af752e47 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -481,6 +481,7 @@ The following keywords are supported in the "global" section :
    - tune.comp.maxlevel
    - tune.http.cookielen
    - tune.http.maxhdr
+   - tune.idletimer
    - tune.maxaccept
    - tune.maxpollevents
    - tune.maxrewrite
@@ -863,6 +864,17 @@ tune.http.maxhdr <number>
   new header consumes 32bits of memory for each session, so don't push this
   limit too high.
 
+tune.idletimer <timeout>
+  Sets the duration after which haproxy will consider that an empty buffer is
+  probably associated with an idle stream. This is used to optimally adjust
+  some packet sizes while forwarding large and small data alternatively. The
+  decision to use splice() or to send large buffers in SSL is modulated by this
+  parameter. The value is in milliseconds between 0 and 65535. A value of zero
+  means that haproxy will not try to detect idle streams. The default is 1000,
+  which seems to correctly detect end user pauses (eg: read a page before
+  clicking). There should be not reason for changing this value. Please check
+  tune.ssl.maxrecord below.
+
 tune.maxaccept <number>
   Sets the maximum number of consecutive connections a process may accept in a
   row before switching to other work. In single process mode, higher numbers
@@ -957,7 +969,8 @@ tune.ssl.maxrecord <number>
   Ethernet with TCP timestamps enabled, or 1460 when timestamps are disabled),
   keeping in mind that SSL/TLS add some overhead. Typical values of 1419 and
   2859 gave good results during tests. Use "strace -e trace=write" to find the
-  best value.
+  best value. Haproxy will automatically switch to this setting after an idle
+  stream has been detected (see tune.idletimer above).
 
 tune.zlib.memlevel <number>
   Sets the memLevel parameter in zlib initialization for each session. It
diff --git a/include/types/global.h b/include/types/global.h
index 3b010d80a..669ec236e 100644
--- a/include/types/global.h
+++ b/include/types/global.h
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ struct global {
 		int zlibwindowsize;  /* zlib window size */
 #endif
 		int comp_maxlevel;    /* max HTTP compression level */
+		unsigned short idle_timer; /* how long before an empty buffer is considered idle (ms) */
 	} tune;
 	struct {
 		char *prefix;           /* path prefix of unix bind socket */
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index 9993c61d1..462187a75 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -618,6 +618,31 @@ int cfg_parse_global(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int kwm)
 		if (global.tune.maxrewrite >= global.tune.bufsize / 2)
 			global.tune.maxrewrite = global.tune.bufsize / 2;
 	}
+	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "tune.idletimer")) {
+		unsigned int idle;
+		const char *res;
+
+		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {
+			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects a timer value between 0 and 65535 ms.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
+			err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		res = parse_time_err(args[1], &idle, TIME_UNIT_MS);
+		if (res) {
+			Alert("parsing [%s:%d]: unexpected character '%c' in argument to <%s>.\n",
+			      file, linenum, *res, args[0]);
+			err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		if (idle > 65535) {
+			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects a timer value between 0 and 65535 ms.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
+			err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
+			goto out;
+		}
+		global.tune.idle_timer = idle;
+	}
 	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "tune.rcvbuf.client")) {
 		if (global.tune.client_rcvbuf != 0) {
 			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' already specified. Continuing.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
diff --git a/src/haproxy.c b/src/haproxy.c
index 5ba7a7308..182570570 100644
--- a/src/haproxy.c
+++ b/src/haproxy.c
@@ -151,8 +151,11 @@ struct global global = {
 		.zlibwindowsize = MAX_WBITS,
 #endif
 		.comp_maxlevel = 1,
-
-
+#ifdef DEFAULT_IDLE_TIMER
+		.idle_timer = DEFAULT_IDLE_TIMER,
+#else
+		.idle_timer = 1000, /* 1 second */
+#endif
 	},
 #ifdef USE_OPENSSL
 #ifdef DEFAULT_MAXSSLCONN
diff --git a/src/stream_interface.c b/src/stream_interface.c
index 83e814cc2..f23a9b0d1 100644
--- a/src/stream_interface.c
+++ b/src/stream_interface.c
@@ -1097,7 +1097,8 @@ static void si_conn_recv_cb(struct connection *conn)
 	cur_read = 0;
 
 	if ((chn->flags & (CF_STREAMER | CF_STREAMER_FAST)) && !chn->buf->o &&
-	    (unsigned short)(now_ms - chn->last_read) >= 1000) {
+	    global.tune.idle_timer &&
+	    (unsigned short)(now_ms - chn->last_read) >= global.tune.idle_timer) {
 		/* The buffer was empty and nothing was transferred for more
 		 * than one second. This was caused by a pause and not by
 		 * congestion. Reset any streaming mode to reduce latency.