diff --git a/src/include/pv-internal.h b/src/include/pv-internal.h
index e1997d2..dc4a8b0 100644
--- a/src/include/pv-internal.h
+++ b/src/include/pv-internal.h
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #define PV_DISPLAY_FINETA	512
 
 #define RATE_GRANULARITY	100000	 /* usec between -L rate chunks */
+#define RATE_BURST_WINDOW	5	 /* rate burst window (multiples of rate) */
 #define REMOTE_INTERVAL		100000	 /* usec between checks for -R */
 #define BUFFER_SIZE		409600	 /* default transfer buffer size */
 #define BUFFER_SIZE_MAX		524288	 /* max auto transfer buffer size */
diff --git a/src/pv/loop.c b/src/pv/loop.c
index f1c5989..949ba5f 100644
--- a/src/pv/loop.c
+++ b/src/pv/loop.c
@@ -151,10 +151,15 @@ int pv_main_loop(pvstate_t state)
 			    || (cur_time.tv_sec == next_ratecheck.tv_sec
 				&& cur_time.tv_usec >=
 				next_ratecheck.tv_usec)) {
+
 				target +=
 				    ((long double) (state->rate_limit)) /
 				    (long double) (1000000 /
 						   RATE_GRANULARITY);
+				long double burstMax = ((long double) (state->rate_limit * RATE_BURST_WINDOW));
+				if (target > burstMax) {
+					target = burstMax;
+				}
 				pv_timeval_add_usec(&next_ratecheck,
 						    RATE_GRANULARITY);
 			}