diff --git a/src/encoding/frame_compressor.rs b/src/encoding/frame_compressor.rs
index 29cdfad..519bd52 100644
--- a/src/encoding/frame_compressor.rs
+++ b/src/encoding/frame_compressor.rs
@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ impl<R: Read, W: Write, M: Matcher> FrameCompressor<R, W, M> {
     ///
     /// This will repeatedly call [Read::read] on the source to fill up blocks until the source returns 0 on the read call.
     /// Also [Write::write_all] will be called on the drain after each block has been encoded.
+    ///
+    /// To avoid endlessly encoding from a potentially endless source (like a network socket) you can use the
+    /// [Read::take] function
     pub fn compress(&mut self) {
         self.match_generator.reset(self.compression_level);
         let source = self.uncompressed_data.as_mut().unwrap();
diff --git a/src/io_nostd.rs b/src/io_nostd.rs
index b0f989b..5eb1437 100644
--- a/src/io_nostd.rs
+++ b/src/io_nostd.rs
@@ -127,6 +127,10 @@ pub trait Read {
         }
         Ok(())
     }
+
+    fn take(self, limit: u64) -> Take<Self> where Self: Sized {
+        Take { inner: self, limit }
+    }
 }
 
 impl Read for &[u8] {
@@ -154,6 +158,46 @@ where
     }
 }
 
+pub struct Take<R: Read> {
+    inner: R,
+    limit: u64,
+}
+
+impl<R: Read> Take<R> {
+    pub fn limit(&self) -> u64 {
+        self.limit
+    }
+
+    pub fn set_limit(&mut self, limit: u64) {
+        self.limit = limit;
+    }
+
+    pub fn get_ref(&self) -> &R {
+        &self.inner
+    }
+
+    pub fn get_mut(&mut self) -> &mut R {
+        &mut self.inner
+    }
+
+    pub fn into_inner(self) -> R {
+        self.inner
+    }
+}
+
+impl<R: Read> Read for Take<R> {
+    fn read(&mut self, buf: &mut [u8]) -> Result<usize, Error> {
+        if self.limit == 0 {
+            return Ok(0);
+        }
+
+        let at_most = (self.limit as usize).min(buf.len());
+        let bytes = self.inner.read(&mut buf[..at_most])?;
+        self.limit -= bytes as u64;
+        Ok(bytes)
+    }
+}
+
 pub trait Write {
     fn write(&mut self, buf: &[u8]) -> Result<usize, Error>;
     fn flush(&mut self) -> Result<(), Error>;