diff --git a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/SslHandler.java b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/SslHandler.java
index ee6ac5983e..2c19502f93 100644
--- a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/SslHandler.java
+++ b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/SslHandler.java
@@ -150,9 +150,7 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
  * For more details see
  * <a href="https://github.com/netty/netty/issues/832">#832</a> in our issue tracker.
  */
-public class SslHandler
-        extends ByteToMessageDecoder
-        implements ChannelOutboundHandler {
+public class SslHandler extends ByteToMessageDecoder implements ChannelOutboundHandler {
 
     private static final InternalLogger logger =
         InternalLoggerFactory.getInstance(SslHandler.class);
@@ -184,6 +182,8 @@ public class SslHandler
     private final CloseNotifyListener closeNotifyWriteListener = new CloseNotifyListener();
     private final Queue<PendingWrite> pendingUnencryptedWrites = new ArrayDeque<PendingWrite>();
 
+    private int packetLength;
+
     private volatile long handshakeTimeoutMillis = 10000;
     private volatile long closeNotifyTimeoutMillis = 3000;
 
@@ -702,6 +702,9 @@ public class SslHandler
      *                  Is thrown if the given {@link ByteBuf} has not at least 5 bytes to read.
      */
     public static boolean isEncrypted(ByteBuf buffer) {
+        if (buffer.readableBytes() < 5) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("buffer must have at least 5 readable bytes");
+        }
         return getEncryptedPacketLength(buffer) != -1;
     }
 
@@ -719,15 +722,12 @@ public class SslHandler
      *                  Is thrown if the given {@link ByteBuf} has not at least 5 bytes to read.
      */
     private static int getEncryptedPacketLength(ByteBuf buffer) {
-        if (buffer.readableBytes() < 5) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("buffer must have at least 5 readable bytes");
-        }
-
+        int first = buffer.readerIndex();
         int packetLength = 0;
 
         // SSLv3 or TLS - Check ContentType
         boolean tls;
-        switch (buffer.getUnsignedByte(buffer.readerIndex())) {
+        switch (buffer.getUnsignedByte(first)) {
         case 20:  // change_cipher_spec
         case 21:  // alert
         case 22:  // handshake
@@ -741,10 +741,10 @@ public class SslHandler
 
         if (tls) {
             // SSLv3 or TLS - Check ProtocolVersion
-            int majorVersion = buffer.getUnsignedByte(buffer.readerIndex() + 1);
+            int majorVersion = buffer.getUnsignedByte(first + 1);
             if (majorVersion == 3) {
                 // SSLv3 or TLS
-                packetLength = (getShort(buffer, buffer.readerIndex() + 3) & 0xFFFF) + 5;
+                packetLength = (buffer.getUnsignedShort(first + 3)) + 5;
                 if (packetLength <= 5) {
                     // Neither SSLv3 or TLSv1 (i.e. SSLv2 or bad data)
                     tls = false;
@@ -758,16 +758,14 @@ public class SslHandler
         if (!tls) {
             // SSLv2 or bad data - Check the version
             boolean sslv2 = true;
-            int headerLength = (buffer.getUnsignedByte(
-                    buffer.readerIndex()) & 0x80) != 0 ? 2 : 3;
-            int majorVersion = buffer.getUnsignedByte(
-                    buffer.readerIndex() + headerLength + 1);
+            int headerLength = (buffer.getUnsignedByte(first) & 0x80) != 0 ? 2 : 3;
+            int majorVersion = buffer.getUnsignedByte(first + headerLength + 1);
             if (majorVersion == 2 || majorVersion == 3) {
                 // SSLv2
                 if (headerLength == 2) {
-                    packetLength = (getShort(buffer, buffer.readerIndex()) & 0x7FFF) + 2;
+                    packetLength = (buffer.getShort(first) & 0x7FFF) + 2;
                 } else {
-                    packetLength = (getShort(buffer, buffer.readerIndex()) & 0x3FFF) + 3;
+                    packetLength = (buffer.getShort(first) & 0x3FFF) + 3;
                 }
                 if (packetLength <= headerLength) {
                     sslv2 = false;
@@ -793,24 +791,33 @@ public class SslHandler
     private void decode0(final ChannelHandlerContext ctx) throws SSLException {
         final ByteBuf in = internalBuffer();
 
-        if (in.readableBytes() < 5) {
-            return;
+        // Check if the packet length was parsed yet, if so we can skip the parsing
+        final int readableBytes = in.readableBytes();
+        int packetLength = this.packetLength;
+        if (packetLength == 0) {
+            if (readableBytes < 5) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            packetLength = getEncryptedPacketLength(in);
+            if (packetLength == -1) {
+                // Bad data - discard the buffer and raise an exception.
+                NotSslRecordException e = new NotSslRecordException(
+                        "not an SSL/TLS record: " + ByteBufUtil.hexDump(in));
+                in.skipBytes(readableBytes);
+                ctx.fireExceptionCaught(e);
+                setHandshakeFailure(e);
+                return;
+            }
+
+            assert packetLength > 0;
+            this.packetLength = packetLength;
         }
 
-        int packetLength = getEncryptedPacketLength(in);
-
-        if (packetLength == -1) {
-            // Bad data - discard the buffer and raise an exception.
-            NotSslRecordException e = new NotSslRecordException(
-                    "not an SSL/TLS record: " + ByteBufUtil.hexDump(in));
-            in.skipBytes(in.readableBytes());
-            ctx.fireExceptionCaught(e);
-            setHandshakeFailure(e);
+        if (readableBytes < packetLength) {
             return;
         }
 
-        assert packetLength > 0;
-
         boolean wrapLater = false;
         int bytesProduced = 0;
         try {
@@ -863,6 +870,9 @@ public class SslHandler
             setHandshakeFailure(e);
             throw e;
         } finally {
+            // reset the packet length so it will be parsed again on the next call
+            this.packetLength = 0;
+
             if (bytesProduced > 0) {
                 ByteBuf decodeOut = this.decodeOut;
                 this.decodeOut = null;
@@ -871,14 +881,6 @@ public class SslHandler
         }
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Reads a big-endian short integer from the buffer.  Please note that we do not use
-     * {@link ByteBuf#getShort(int)} because it might be a little-endian buffer.
-     */
-    private static short getShort(ByteBuf buf, int offset) {
-        return (short) (buf.getByte(offset) << 8 | buf.getByte(offset + 1) & 0xFF);
-    }
-
     private static SSLEngineResult unwrap(SSLEngine engine, ByteBuf in, ByteBuf out) throws SSLException {
         ByteBuffer in0 = in.nioBuffer();
         for (;;) {