diff --git a/tar.go b/tar.go
index 742aba2..9ef79b0 100644
--- a/tar.go
+++ b/tar.go
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ var (
 var ErrDecompressLimit = errors.New("decompressed content exceeds size limit")
 var ErrEntryLimit = errors.New("archive entry count exceeds limit")
 
+const maxInitialEntryBuffer = 64 << 10
+
 type tarReader struct {
 	raw   []byte
 	files []tarFileEntry
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ func openTarWithInitialEntryCount(raw []byte, compression string, initialEntryCo
 		var data []byte
 		if !info.IsDir {
 			remaining := maxDecompressedSize - totalSize
-			data, err = io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(tr, remaining+1))
+			data, err = readTarEntry(tr, header.Size, remaining)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("reading file %s: %w", header.Name, err)
 			}
@@ -130,6 +132,18 @@ func openTarWithInitialEntryCount(raw []byte, compression string, initialEntryCo
 	return &tarReader{raw: raw, files: files, index: index}, nil
 }
 
+func readTarEntry(r io.Reader, size, remaining int64) ([]byte, error) {
+	limited := io.LimitReader(r, remaining+1)
+	if size <= bytes.MinRead || size > maxInitialEntryBuffer {
+		return io.ReadAll(limited)
+	}
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	// Bound the hint from untrusted headers and leave room for the EOF read.
+	buf.Grow(int(min(size, remaining)) + bytes.MinRead)
+	_, err := buf.ReadFrom(limited)
+	return buf.Bytes(), err
+}
+
 func checkArchiveEntryCount(count int) error {
 	if count > maxArchiveEntries {
 		return fmt.Errorf("%w: count %d exceeds %d", ErrEntryLimit, count, maxArchiveEntries)
diff --git a/tar_bench_test.go b/tar_bench_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40c7da9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tar_bench_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+package archives
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func BenchmarkTarBrowse(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, size := range []int{0, 512, 16 << 10, 64 << 10, 1 << 20} {
+		payload := make([]byte, size)
+		for i := range payload {
+			payload[i] = byte(i)
+		}
+		for _, filename := range []string{"test.tar", "test.tar.gz"} {
+			b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%s/%d", filename, size), func(b *testing.B) {
+				benchmarkTarBrowse(b, filename, payload)
+			})
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func benchmarkTarBrowse(b *testing.B, filename string, payload []byte) {
+	b.Helper()
+	raw := compressTar(b, filename, tarWithPayloads(b, payload, payload, payload, payload))
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	b.SetBytes(int64(4 * len(payload)))
+	for b.Loop() {
+		r, err := OpenBytesWithPrefix(filename, raw, "package/")
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		files, err := r.ListDir("lib")
+		if err != nil || len(files) != 4 {
+			b.Fatalf("ListDir: %d files, %v", len(files), err)
+		}
+		src, err := r.Extract("lib/file3")
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		n, err := io.Copy(io.Discard, src)
+		if err != nil || n != int64(len(payload)) {
+			b.Fatalf("Extract: %d bytes, %v", n, err)
+		}
+		if err := src.Close(); err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if err := r.Close(); err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/tar_read_test.go b/tar_read_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51a414f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tar_read_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,240 @@
+package archives
+
+import (
+	"archive/tar"
+	"bytes"
+	"compress/gzip"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/klauspost/compress/zstd"
+	"github.com/ulikunitz/xz"
+)
+
+func tarWithPayloads(t testing.TB, payloads ...[]byte) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	tw := tar.NewWriter(&buf)
+	for i, payload := range payloads {
+		if err := tw.WriteHeader(&tar.Header{
+			Name: fmt.Sprintf("package/lib/file%d", i),
+			Size: int64(len(payload)),
+			Mode: 0o644,
+		}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if _, err := tw.Write(payload); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	if err := tw.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return buf.Bytes()
+}
+
+func gzipTar(t testing.TB, raw []byte) []byte {
+	return compressTar(t, "test.tar.gz", raw)
+}
+
+func compressTar(t testing.TB, filename string, raw []byte) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+	if filename == "test.tar" {
+		return raw
+	}
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	var w io.WriteCloser
+	var err error
+	switch filename {
+	case "test.tar.gz":
+		w = gzip.NewWriter(&buf)
+	case "test.tar.zst":
+		w, err = zstd.NewWriter(&buf)
+	case "test.tar.xz":
+		w, err = xz.NewWriter(&buf)
+	default:
+		t.Fatalf("unsupported test format: %s", filename)
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := w.Write(raw); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := w.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return buf.Bytes()
+}
+
+func TestTarPayloadSizes(t *testing.T) {
+	var payloads [][]byte
+	for i, size := range []int{0, 1, 511, 512, 513, 16 << 10, (64 << 10) - 1, 64 << 10, (64 << 10) + 1, 1 << 20} {
+		payloads = append(payloads, bytes.Repeat([]byte{byte(i)}, size))
+	}
+	raw := tarWithPayloads(t, payloads...)
+	for _, filename := range []string{"test.tar", "test.tar.gz", "test.tar.zst", "test.tar.xz"} {
+		t.Run(filename, func(t *testing.T) {
+			data := compressTar(t, filename, raw)
+			r, err := OpenBytesWithPrefix(filename, data, "package/")
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			defer func() { _ = r.Close() }()
+			assertTarListing(t, r, payloads)
+			gotHash, err := r.Hash(SHA256)
+			if err != nil || gotHash != expectedDigests(data)[SHA256] {
+				t.Fatalf("Hash = %q, %v", gotHash, err)
+			}
+			dir := t.TempDir()
+			if err := ExtractAll(r, dir); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			for i, payload := range payloads {
+				assertFileContent(t, filepath.Join(dir, "lib", fmt.Sprintf("file%d", i)), string(payload))
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func assertTarListing(t *testing.T, r Reader, payloads [][]byte) {
+	t.Helper()
+	files, err := r.List()
+	if err != nil || len(files) != len(payloads) {
+		t.Fatalf("List: %d entries, %v", len(files), err)
+	}
+	dirFiles, err := r.ListDir("lib")
+	if err != nil || !reflect.DeepEqual(files, dirFiles) {
+		t.Fatalf("ListDir differs from List: %v", err)
+	}
+	for i := len(payloads) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+		name := fmt.Sprintf("lib/file%d", i)
+		if files[i].Path != name || files[i].Size != int64(len(payloads[i])) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected metadata: %+v", files[i])
+		}
+		for range 2 {
+			assertTarPayload(t, r, name, payloads[i])
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func assertTarPayload(t testing.TB, r Reader, name string, want []byte) {
+	t.Helper()
+	src, err := r.Extract(name)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	got, readErr := io.ReadAll(src)
+	closeErr := src.Close()
+	if readErr != nil || closeErr != nil || !bytes.Equal(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("Extract(%q): got %d bytes, want %d; read %v, close %v", name, len(got), len(want), readErr, closeErr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTarDuplicatePayloads(t *testing.T) {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	tw := tar.NewWriter(&buf)
+	writeTarFile(t, tw, "package/index.js", "first", 0o644)
+	writeTarFile(t, tw, "package/index.js", "second", 0o644)
+	if err := tw.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	r, err := OpenWithPrefix("test.tar.gz", bytes.NewReader(gzipTar(t, buf.Bytes())), "package/")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer func() { _ = r.Close() }()
+	files, err := r.List()
+	if err != nil || len(files) != 2 || files[0].Size != 5 || files[1].Size != 6 {
+		t.Fatalf("List = %+v, %v", files, err)
+	}
+	assertTarPayload(t, r, "index.js", []byte("first"))
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	if err := ExtractAll(r, dir); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	assertFileContent(t, filepath.Join(dir, "index.js"), "first")
+}
+
+func TestTarTruncatedPayload(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, size := range []int64{1, 16 << 10, 1 << 20, 1 << 40} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprint(size), func(t *testing.T) {
+			var buf bytes.Buffer
+			tw := tar.NewWriter(&buf)
+			if err := tw.WriteHeader(&tar.Header{Name: "file", Size: size, Mode: 0o644}); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			for _, filename := range []string{"test.tar", "test.tar.gz"} {
+				_, err := OpenBytes(filename, compressTar(t, filename, buf.Bytes()))
+				if !errors.Is(err, io.ErrUnexpectedEOF) {
+					t.Fatalf("%s: got %v, want unexpected EOF", filename, err)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTarPayloadLimitBoundary(t *testing.T) {
+	oldMax := maxDecompressedSize
+	maxDecompressedSize = 1024
+	t.Cleanup(func() { maxDecompressedSize = oldMax })
+	for _, lastSize := range []int{511, 512, 513} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprint(lastSize), func(t *testing.T) {
+			raw := tarWithPayloads(t, make([]byte, 512), make([]byte, lastSize), nil)
+			r, err := Open("test.tar.gz", bytes.NewReader(gzipTar(t, raw)))
+			if lastSize > 512 {
+				if !errors.Is(err, ErrDecompressLimit) {
+					t.Fatalf("got %v, want decompression limit", err)
+				}
+				return
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			defer func() { _ = r.Close() }()
+			assertTarPayload(t, r, "package/lib/file1", make([]byte, lastSize))
+			assertTarPayload(t, r, "package/lib/file2", nil)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTarPayloadReadErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, size := range []int{513, 16 << 10, 64 << 10, 1 << 20} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprint(size), func(t *testing.T) {
+			raw := tarWithPayloads(t, make([]byte, size))
+			_, err := OpenBytes("test.tar", raw[:512+size-1])
+			if !errors.Is(err, io.ErrUnexpectedEOF) {
+				t.Fatalf("truncated payload: got %v, want unexpected EOF", err)
+			}
+			data := gzipTar(t, raw[:512+size])
+			data[len(data)-8] ^= 1
+			_, err = OpenBytes("test.tar.gz", data)
+			if !errors.Is(err, gzip.ErrChecksum) {
+				t.Fatalf("corrupt payload checksum: got %v, want checksum error", err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func FuzzTarPayloadRoundTrip(f *testing.F) {
+	f.Add([]byte("module.exports = {};"))
+	f.Add([]byte{})
+	f.Add(bytes.Repeat([]byte("data"), 16385))
+	f.Fuzz(func(t *testing.T, payload []byte) {
+		if len(payload) > 1<<20 {
+			t.Skip()
+		}
+		raw := tarWithPayloads(t, payload, []byte("last"))
+		r, err := OpenBytes("test.tar.gz", gzipTar(t, raw))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		defer func() { _ = r.Close() }()
+		assertTarPayload(t, r, "package/lib/file0", payload)
+		assertTarPayload(t, r, "package/lib/file1", []byte("last"))
+	})
+}