diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 15a8244b82..b612a1d7ed 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ It offers slightly better compression at lower compression settings, and up to 3
 [![Sourcegraph Badge](https://sourcegraph.com/github.com/klauspost/compress/-/badge.svg)](https://sourcegraph.com/github.com/klauspost/compress?badge)
 
 # changelog
-* Aug4, 2019 (v1.7.5): Better literal compression. [#146](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/146)
+* Aug 14, 2019: zstd: Skip incompressible data 2x faster.  [#147](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/147)
+* Aug 4, 2019 (v1.7.5): Better literal compression. [#146](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/146)
 * Aug 4, 2019: Faster zstd compression. [#143](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/143) [#144](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/144)
 * Aug 4, 2019: Faster zstd decompression. [#145](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/145) [#143](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/143) [#142](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/pull/142)
 * July 15, 2019 (v1.7.4): Fix double EOF block in rare cases on zstd encoder.
diff --git a/zstd/encoder.go b/zstd/encoder.go
index f1dfef800a..b7011be29a 100644
--- a/zstd/encoder.go
+++ b/zstd/encoder.go
@@ -257,7 +257,12 @@ func (e *Encoder) nextBlock(final bool) error {
 				}
 				s.wWg.Done()
 			}()
-			err := blk.encode()
+			err := errIncompressible
+			// If we got the exact same number of literals as input,
+			// assume the literals cannot be compressed.
+			if len(src) != len(blk.literals) || len(src) != e.o.blockSize {
+				err = blk.encode()
+			}
 			switch err {
 			case errIncompressible:
 				if debug {
@@ -444,7 +449,13 @@ func (e *Encoder) EncodeAll(src, dst []byte) []byte {
 		if len(src) == 0 {
 			blk.last = true
 		}
-		err := blk.encode()
+		err := errIncompressible
+		// If we got the exact same number of literals as input,
+		// assume the literals cannot be compressed.
+		if len(blk.literals) != len(todo) || len(todo) != e.o.blockSize {
+			err = blk.encode()
+		}
+
 		switch err {
 		case errIncompressible:
 			if debug {
diff --git a/zstd/encoder_test.go b/zstd/encoder_test.go
index 8f823f45ec..f1c06b1af0 100644
--- a/zstd/encoder_test.go
+++ b/zstd/encoder_test.go
@@ -723,3 +723,103 @@ func BenchmarkEncoder_EncodeAllPi(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func BenchmarkRandomEncodeAllFastest(b *testing.B) {
+	rng := rand.New(rand.NewSource(1))
+	data := make([]byte, 10<<20)
+	for i := range data {
+		data[i] = uint8(rng.Intn(256))
+	}
+	enc, _ := NewWriter(nil, WithEncoderLevel(SpeedFastest), WithEncoderConcurrency(1))
+	dst := enc.EncodeAll(data, nil)
+	wantSize := len(dst)
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	b.SetBytes(int64(len(data)))
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		dst := enc.EncodeAll(data, dst[:0])
+		if len(dst) != wantSize {
+			b.Fatal(len(dst), "!=", wantSize)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkRandomEncodeAllDefault(b *testing.B) {
+	rng := rand.New(rand.NewSource(1))
+	data := make([]byte, 10<<20)
+	for i := range data {
+		data[i] = uint8(rng.Intn(256))
+	}
+	enc, _ := NewWriter(nil, WithEncoderLevel(SpeedDefault), WithEncoderConcurrency(1))
+	dst := enc.EncodeAll(data, nil)
+	wantSize := len(dst)
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	b.SetBytes(int64(len(data)))
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		dst := enc.EncodeAll(data, dst[:0])
+		if len(dst) != wantSize {
+			b.Fatal(len(dst), "!=", wantSize)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkRandomEncoderFastest(b *testing.B) {
+	rng := rand.New(rand.NewSource(1))
+	data := make([]byte, 10<<20)
+	for i := range data {
+		data[i] = uint8(rng.Intn(256))
+	}
+	wantSize := int64(len(data))
+	enc, _ := NewWriter(ioutil.Discard, WithEncoderLevel(SpeedFastest))
+	n, err := io.Copy(enc, bytes.NewBuffer(data))
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if n != wantSize {
+		b.Fatal(n, "!=", wantSize)
+	}
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	b.SetBytes(wantSize)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		enc.Reset(ioutil.Discard)
+		n, err := io.Copy(enc, bytes.NewBuffer(data))
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if n != wantSize {
+			b.Fatal(n, "!=", wantSize)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkRandomEncoderDefault(b *testing.B) {
+	rng := rand.New(rand.NewSource(1))
+	data := make([]byte, 10<<20)
+	for i := range data {
+		data[i] = uint8(rng.Intn(256))
+	}
+	wantSize := int64(len(data))
+	enc, _ := NewWriter(ioutil.Discard, WithEncoderLevel(SpeedDefault))
+	n, err := io.Copy(enc, bytes.NewBuffer(data))
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if n != wantSize {
+		b.Fatal(n, "!=", wantSize)
+	}
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	b.SetBytes(wantSize)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		enc.Reset(ioutil.Discard)
+		n, err := io.Copy(enc, bytes.NewBuffer(data))
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if n != wantSize {
+			b.Fatal(n, "!=", wantSize)
+		}
+	}
+}