diff --git a/doc/ws.md b/doc/ws.md
index 401688806..7740866ad 100644
--- a/doc/ws.md
+++ b/doc/ws.md
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ If `handleProtocols` is not set then the handshake is accepted regardless the va
 * `serverMaxWindowBits` Number: The value of windowBits.
 * `clientMaxWindowBits` Number: The value of max windowBits to be requested to clients.
 * `memLevel` Number: The value of memLevel.
+* `threshold` Number: Payloads smaller than this will not be compressed. Default 1024 bytes.
 
 If a property is empty then either an offered configuration or a default value is used.
 
diff --git a/lib/PerMessageDeflate.js b/lib/PerMessageDeflate.js
index 8ae51f356..397377b91 100644
--- a/lib/PerMessageDeflate.js
+++ b/lib/PerMessageDeflate.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ class PerMessageDeflate {
     this._deflate = null;
     this.params = null;
     this._maxPayload = maxPayload || 0;
+    this.threshold = this._options.threshold === undefined ? 1024 : this._options.threshold;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/lib/Sender.js b/lib/Sender.js
index f68036a58..5e2535c4c 100644
--- a/lib/Sender.js
+++ b/lib/Sender.js
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class Sender {
    */
   doPing (data, options) {
     var mask = options && options.mask;
-    this.frameAndSend(0x9, data || '', true, mask);
+    this.frameAndSend(0x9, data ? Buffer.from(data.toString()) : null, true, mask);
     if (this.extensions[PerMessageDeflate.extensionName]) {
       this.messageHandlerCallback();
     }
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class Sender {
    */
   doPong (data, options) {
     var mask = options && options.mask;
-    this.frameAndSend(0xa, data || '', true, mask);
+    this.frameAndSend(0xa, data ? Buffer.from(data.toString()) : null, true, mask);
     if (this.extensions[PerMessageDeflate.extensionName]) {
       this.messageHandlerCallback();
     }
@@ -129,6 +129,17 @@ class Sender {
     }
     if (finalFragment) this.firstFragment = true;
 
+    if (data && !Buffer.isBuffer(data)) {
+      if ((data.buffer || data) instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
+        data = getBufferFromNative(data);
+      } else {
+        if (typeof data === 'number') {
+          data = data.toString();
+        }
+        data = Buffer.from(data);
+      }
+    }
+
     if (this.extensions[PerMessageDeflate.extensionName]) {
       this.enqueue([this.sendCompressed, [opcode, data, finalFragment, mask, compress, cb]]);
     } else {
@@ -142,6 +153,11 @@ class Sender {
    * @api private
    */
   sendCompressed (opcode, data, finalFragment, mask, compress, cb) {
+    if (data && data.length < this.extensions[PerMessageDeflate.extensionName].threshold) {
+      this.frameAndSend(opcode, data, finalFragment, mask, false, cb);
+      this.messageHandlerCallback();
+      return;
+    }
     this.applyExtensions(data, finalFragment, this.compress, (err, data) => {
       if (err) {
         if (cb) cb(err);
@@ -159,8 +175,6 @@ class Sender {
    * @api private
    */
   frameAndSend (opcode, data, finalFragment, maskData, compressed, cb) {
-    var canModifyData = false;
-
     if (!data) {
       var buff = [opcode | (finalFragment ? 0x80 : 0), 0 | (maskData ? 0x80 : 0)]
         .concat(maskData ? [0, 0, 0, 0] : []);
@@ -168,23 +182,6 @@ class Sender {
       return;
     }
 
-    if (!Buffer.isBuffer(data)) {
-      if ((data.buffer || data) instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
-        data = getBufferFromNative(data);
-      } else {
-        canModifyData = true;
-        //
-        // If people want to send a number, this would allocate the number in
-        // bytes as memory size instead of storing the number as buffer value. So
-        // we need to transform it to string in order to prevent possible
-        // vulnerabilities / memory attacks.
-        //
-        if (typeof data === 'number') data = data.toString();
-
-        data = new Buffer(data);
-      }
-    }
-
     var dataLength = data.length;
     var dataOffset = maskData ? 6 : 2;
     var secondByte = dataLength;
@@ -197,6 +194,7 @@ class Sender {
       secondByte = 126;
     }
 
+    var canModifyData = opcode === 1 || compressed;
     var mergeBuffers = dataLength < 32768 || (maskData && !canModifyData);
     var totalLength = mergeBuffers ? dataLength + dataOffset : dataOffset;
     var outputBuffer = new Buffer(totalLength);
@@ -276,9 +274,6 @@ class Sender {
    */
   applyExtensions (data, fin, compress, callback) {
     if (compress && data) {
-      if ((data.buffer || data) instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
-        data = getBufferFromNative(data);
-      }
       this.extensions[PerMessageDeflate.extensionName].compress(data, fin, callback);
     } else {
       callback(null, data);
diff --git a/test/Sender.test.js b/test/Sender.test.js
index 42b23ff7d..dc82c4eb0 100644
--- a/test/Sender.test.js
+++ b/test/Sender.test.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ describe('Sender', function() {
     it('does not modify a masked text buffer', function() {
       var sender = new Sender({ write: function() {} });
       var text = 'hi there';
-      sender.frameAndSend(1, text, true, true);
+      sender.frameAndSend(1, Buffer.from(text), true, true);
       text.should.eql('hi there');
     });
 
@@ -41,13 +41,13 @@ describe('Sender', function() {
           done();
         }
       });
-      sender.frameAndSend(1, 'hi', true, false, true);
+      sender.frameAndSend(1, Buffer.from('hi'), true, false, true);
     });
   });
 
   describe('#send', function() {
     it('compresses data if compress option is enabled', function(done) {
-      var perMessageDeflate = new PerMessageDeflate();
+      var perMessageDeflate = new PerMessageDeflate({ threshold: 0 });
       perMessageDeflate.accept([{}]);
 
       var sender = new Sender({
@@ -61,6 +61,21 @@ describe('Sender', function() {
       sender.send('hi', { compress: true });
     });
     
+    it('does not compress data for small payloads', function(done) {
+      var perMessageDeflate = new PerMessageDeflate();
+      perMessageDeflate.accept([{}]);
+
+      var sender = new Sender({
+        write: function(data) {
+          (data[0] & 0x40).should.not.equal(0x40);
+          done();
+        }
+      }, {
+        'permessage-deflate': perMessageDeflate
+      });
+      sender.send('hi', { compress: true });
+    });
+
     it('Should be able to handle many send calls while processing without crashing on flush', function(done) {
       var messageCount = 0;
       var maxMessages = 5000;
diff --git a/test/WebSocket.test.js b/test/WebSocket.test.js
index 6049b4dda..2c72f2eaa 100644
--- a/test/WebSocket.test.js
+++ b/test/WebSocket.test.js
@@ -2226,7 +2226,7 @@ describe('WebSocket', function() {
     describe('#terminate', function() {
       it('will raise error callback, if any, if called during send data', function(done) {
         var wss = new WebSocketServer({port: ++port, perMessageDeflate: true}, function() {
-          var ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:' + port, {perMessageDeflate: true});
+          var ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:' + port, {perMessageDeflate: { threshold: 0 }});
           var errorGiven = false;
           ws.on('open', function() {
             ws.send('hi', function(error) {