diff --git a/src/redis-cli.c b/src/redis-cli.c
index 88f39a6e..7c086cfb 100644
--- a/src/redis-cli.c
+++ b/src/redis-cli.c
@@ -1399,6 +1399,7 @@ static void getRDB(void) {
  * Bulk import (pipe) mode
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
+#define PIPEMODE_WRITE_LOOP_MAX_BYTES (128*1024)
 static void pipeMode(void) {
     int fd = context->fd;
     long long errors = 0, replies = 0, obuf_len = 0, obuf_pos = 0;
@@ -1475,6 +1476,8 @@ static void pipeMode(void) {
 
         /* Handle the writable state: we can send protocol to the server. */
         if (mask & AE_WRITABLE) {
+            ssize_t loop_nwritten = 0;
+
             while(1) {
                 /* Transfer current buffer to server. */
                 if (obuf_len != 0) {
@@ -1491,6 +1494,7 @@ static void pipeMode(void) {
                     }
                     obuf_len -= nwritten;
                     obuf_pos += nwritten;
+                    loop_nwritten += nwritten;
                     if (obuf_len != 0) break; /* Can't accept more data. */
                 }
                 /* If buffer is empty, load from stdin. */
@@ -1526,7 +1530,8 @@ static void pipeMode(void) {
                         obuf_pos = 0;
                     }
                 }
-                if (obuf_len == 0 && eof) break;
+                if ((obuf_len == 0 && eof) ||
+                    loop_nwritten > PIPEMODE_WRITE_LOOP_MAX_BYTES) break;
             }
         }