diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/PacketLineIn.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/PacketLineIn.java
index d3264d5f2..01d92770b 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/PacketLineIn.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/PacketLineIn.java
@@ -113,7 +113,12 @@ class PacketLineIn {
 		if (len == 0)
 			return "";
 
-		final byte[] raw = new byte[len];
+		byte[] raw;
+		if (len <= lineBuffer.length)
+			raw = lineBuffer;
+		else
+			raw = new byte[len];
+
 		IO.readFully(in, raw, 0, len);
 		if (raw[len - 1] == '\n')
 			len--;