diff --git a/kasmweb/core/websock.js b/kasmweb/core/websock.js
index 51b9a66..252f352 100644
--- a/kasmweb/core/websock.js
+++ b/kasmweb/core/websock.js
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ export default class Websock {
         this._rQi = 0;           // Receive queue index
         this._rQlen = 0;         // Next write position in the receive queue
         this._rQbufferSize = 1024 * 1024 * 4; // Receive queue buffer size (4 MiB)
-        this._rQmax = this._rQbufferSize / 8;
         // called in init: this._rQ = new Uint8Array(this._rQbufferSize);
         this._rQ = null; // Receive queue
 
@@ -226,15 +225,15 @@ export default class Websock {
     }
 
     _expand_compact_rQ(min_fit) {
-        const resizeNeeded = min_fit || this.rQlen > this._rQbufferSize / 2;
+        // if we're using less than 1/8th of the buffer even with the incoming bytes, compact in place
+        // instead of resizing
+        const required_buffer_size =  (this._rQlen - this._rQi + min_fit) * 8;
+        const resizeNeeded = this._rQbufferSize < required_buffer_size;
+
         if (resizeNeeded) {
-            if (!min_fit) {
-                // just double the size if we need to do compaction
-                this._rQbufferSize *= 2;
-            } else {
-                // otherwise, make sure we satisy rQlen - rQi + min_fit < rQbufferSize / 8
-                this._rQbufferSize = (this.rQlen + min_fit) * 8;
-            }
+            // Make sure we always *at least* double the buffer size, and have at least space for 8x
+            // the current amount of data
+            this._rQbufferSize = Math.max(this._rQbufferSize * 2, required_buffer_size);
         }
 
         // we don't want to grow unboundedly
@@ -247,7 +246,6 @@ export default class Websock {
 
         if (resizeNeeded) {
             const old_rQbuffer = this._rQ.buffer;
-            this._rQmax = this._rQbufferSize / 8;
             this._rQ = new Uint8Array(this._rQbufferSize);
             this._rQ.set(new Uint8Array(old_rQbuffer, this._rQi));
         } else {
@@ -280,8 +278,6 @@ export default class Websock {
             if (this._rQlen == this._rQi) {
                 this._rQlen = 0;
                 this._rQi = 0;
-            } else if (this._rQlen > this._rQmax) {
-                this._expand_compact_rQ();
             }
         } else {
             Log.Debug("Ignoring empty message");
diff --git a/kasmweb/tests/test.websock.js b/kasmweb/tests/test.websock.js
index 30e19e9..33d5cec 100644
--- a/kasmweb/tests/test.websock.js
+++ b/kasmweb/tests/test.websock.js
@@ -384,26 +384,35 @@ describe('Websock', function () {
             expect(sock._eventHandlers.message).not.to.have.been.called;
         });
 
-        it('should compact the receive queue', function () {
-            // NB(sross): while this is an internal implementation detail, it's important to
-            //            test, otherwise the receive queue could become very large very quickly
+        it('should compact the receive queue when a message handler empties it', function () {
+            sock._eventHandlers.message = () => { sock.rQi = sock._rQlen; };
             sock._rQ = new Uint8Array([0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0]);
             sock._rQlen = 6;
             sock.rQi = 6;
-            sock._rQmax = 3;
             const msg = { data: new Uint8Array([1, 2, 3]).buffer };
             sock._mode = 'binary';
             sock._recv_message(msg);
-            expect(sock._rQlen).to.equal(3);
+            expect(sock._rQlen).to.equal(0);
             expect(sock.rQi).to.equal(0);
         });
 
-        it('should automatically resize the receive queue if the incoming message is too large', function () {
+        it('should compact the receive queue when we reach the end of the buffer', function () {
+            sock._rQ = new Uint8Array(20);
+            sock._rQbufferSize = 20;
+            sock._rQlen = 20;
+            sock.rQi = 10;
+            const msg = { data: new Uint8Array([1, 2]).buffer };
+            sock._mode = 'binary';
+            sock._recv_message(msg);
+            expect(sock._rQlen).to.equal(12);
+            expect(sock.rQi).to.equal(0);
+        });
+
+        it('should automatically resize the receive queue if the incoming message is larger than the buffer', function () {
             sock._rQ = new Uint8Array(20);
             sock._rQlen = 0;
             sock.rQi = 0;
             sock._rQbufferSize = 20;
-            sock._rQmax = 2;
             const msg = { data: new Uint8Array(30).buffer };
             sock._mode = 'binary';
             sock._recv_message(msg);
@@ -411,6 +420,19 @@ describe('Websock', function () {
             expect(sock.rQi).to.equal(0);
             expect(sock._rQ.length).to.equal(240);  // keep the invariant that rQbufferSize / 8 >= rQlen
         });
+
+        it('should automatically resize the receive queue if the incoming message is larger than 1/8th of the buffer and we reach the end of the buffer', function () {
+            sock._rQ = new Uint8Array(20);
+            sock._rQlen = 16;
+            sock.rQi = 16;
+            sock._rQbufferSize = 20;
+            const msg = { data: new Uint8Array(6).buffer };
+            sock._mode = 'binary';
+            sock._recv_message(msg);
+            expect(sock._rQlen).to.equal(6);
+            expect(sock.rQi).to.equal(0);
+            expect(sock._rQ.length).to.equal(48);
+        });
     });
 
     describe('Data encoding', function () {