diff --git a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder.java b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder.java
index 5e0a9f6cf1..7b48b96e31 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder.java
@@ -43,7 +43,13 @@ public class DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder implements Http2HeadersEncoder, Http2Hea
 
     public DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder(SensitivityDetector sensitivityDetector, boolean ignoreMaxHeaderListSize,
                                       int dynamicTableArraySizeHint) {
-        this(sensitivityDetector, new HpackEncoder(ignoreMaxHeaderListSize, dynamicTableArraySizeHint));
+        this(sensitivityDetector, ignoreMaxHeaderListSize, dynamicTableArraySizeHint, HpackEncoder.HUFF_CODE_THRESHOLD);
+    }
+
+    public DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder(SensitivityDetector sensitivityDetector, boolean ignoreMaxHeaderListSize,
+                                      int dynamicTableArraySizeHint, int huffCodeThreshold) {
+        this(sensitivityDetector,
+                new HpackEncoder(ignoreMaxHeaderListSize, dynamicTableArraySizeHint, huffCodeThreshold));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/HpackEncoder.java b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/HpackEncoder.java
index 301a2c51cf..a1b25179c1 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/HpackEncoder.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/HpackEncoder.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ import static java.lang.Math.max;
 import static java.lang.Math.min;
 
 final class HpackEncoder {
+    static final int HUFF_CODE_THRESHOLD = 512;
     // a linked hash map of header fields
     private final HeaderEntry[] headerFields;
     private final HeaderEntry head = new HeaderEntry(-1, AsciiString.EMPTY_STRING,
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ final class HpackEncoder {
     private final HpackHuffmanEncoder hpackHuffmanEncoder = new HpackHuffmanEncoder();
     private final byte hashMask;
     private final boolean ignoreMaxHeaderListSize;
+    private final int huffCodeThreshold;
     private long size;
     private long maxHeaderTableSize;
     private long maxHeaderListSize;
@@ -76,13 +78,13 @@ final class HpackEncoder {
      * Creates a new encoder.
      */
     HpackEncoder(boolean ignoreMaxHeaderListSize) {
-        this(ignoreMaxHeaderListSize, 16);
+        this(ignoreMaxHeaderListSize, 16, HUFF_CODE_THRESHOLD);
     }
 
     /**
      * Creates a new encoder.
      */
-    HpackEncoder(boolean ignoreMaxHeaderListSize, int arraySizeHint) {
+    HpackEncoder(boolean ignoreMaxHeaderListSize, int arraySizeHint, int huffCodeThreshold) {
         this.ignoreMaxHeaderListSize = ignoreMaxHeaderListSize;
         maxHeaderTableSize = DEFAULT_HEADER_TABLE_SIZE;
         maxHeaderListSize = MAX_HEADER_LIST_SIZE;
@@ -91,6 +93,7 @@ final class HpackEncoder {
         headerFields = new HeaderEntry[findNextPositivePowerOfTwo(max(2, min(arraySizeHint, 128)))];
         hashMask = (byte) (headerFields.length - 1);
         head.before = head.after = head;
+        this.huffCodeThreshold = huffCodeThreshold;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -250,8 +253,9 @@ final class HpackEncoder {
      * Encode string literal according to Section 5.2.
      */
     private void encodeStringLiteral(ByteBuf out, CharSequence string) {
-        int huffmanLength = hpackHuffmanEncoder.getEncodedLength(string);
-        if (huffmanLength < string.length()) {
+        int huffmanLength;
+        if (string.length() >= huffCodeThreshold
+                && (huffmanLength = hpackHuffmanEncoder.getEncodedLength(string)) < string.length()) {
             encodeInteger(out, 0x80, 7, huffmanLength);
             hpackHuffmanEncoder.encode(out, string);
         } else {
diff --git a/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2FrameWriterTest.java b/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2FrameWriterTest.java
index 438097f3e3..b06d12c225 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2FrameWriterTest.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/DefaultHttp2FrameWriterTest.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 package io.netty.handler.codec.http2;
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufUtil;
 import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
 import io.netty.buffer.UnpooledByteBufAllocator;
 import io.netty.channel.Channel;
@@ -65,8 +66,11 @@ public class DefaultHttp2FrameWriterTest {
     @Before
     public void setUp() throws Exception {
         MockitoAnnotations.initMocks(this);
+        http2HeadersEncoder = new DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder(
+                Http2HeadersEncoder.NEVER_SENSITIVE, new HpackEncoder(false, 16, 0));
 
-        frameWriter = new DefaultHttp2FrameWriter();
+        frameWriter = new DefaultHttp2FrameWriter(new DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder(
+                Http2HeadersEncoder.NEVER_SENSITIVE, new HpackEncoder(false, 16, 0)));
 
         outbound = Unpooled.buffer();
 
@@ -74,8 +78,6 @@ public class DefaultHttp2FrameWriterTest {
 
         promise = new DefaultChannelPromise(channel, ImmediateEventExecutor.INSTANCE);
 
-        http2HeadersEncoder = new DefaultHttp2HeadersEncoder();
-
         Answer<Object> answer = new Answer<Object>() {
             @Override
             public Object answer(InvocationOnMock var1) throws Throwable {
diff --git a/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2TestUtil.java b/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2TestUtil.java
index f660381237..fa288bf241 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2TestUtil.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2TestUtil.java
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ public final class Http2TestUtil {
 
     public static HpackEncoder newTestEncoder(boolean ignoreMaxHeaderListSize,
                                               long maxHeaderListSize, long maxHeaderTableSize) throws Http2Exception {
-        HpackEncoder hpackEncoder = new HpackEncoder();
+        HpackEncoder hpackEncoder = new HpackEncoder(false, 16, 0);
         ByteBuf buf = Unpooled.buffer();
         try {
             hpackEncoder.setMaxHeaderTableSize(buf, maxHeaderTableSize);