diff --git a/src/jv_print.c b/src/jv_print.c
index 94924203..568656dc 100644
--- a/src/jv_print.c
+++ b/src/jv_print.c
@@ -126,7 +126,18 @@ static void jvp_dump_string(jv str, int ascii_only, FILE* F, jv* S, int T) {
   int c = 0;
   char buf[32];
   put_char('"', F, S, T);
-  while ((i = jvp_utf8_next((cstart = i), end, &c))) {
+  while (i < end) {
+    // Write each run of bytes that need no escaping with a single call.
+    for (cstart = i; cstart < end; cstart++) {
+      unsigned char b = *cstart;
+      if (b < 0x20 || b == '"' || b == '\\' || b == 0x7F || (ascii_only && b >= 0x80))
+        break;
+    }
+    if (cstart > i)
+      put_buf(i, cstart - i, F, S, T);
+    if (cstart == end)
+      break;
+    i = jvp_utf8_next(cstart, end, &c);
     assert(c != -1);
     int unicode_escape = 0;
     if (0x20 <= c && c <= 0x7E) {
diff --git a/tests/jq.test b/tests/jq.test
index 9f2ab525..183950d4 100644
--- a/tests/jq.test
+++ b/tests/jq.test
@@ -100,6 +100,15 @@ null
 ["foo", 1, ["a", 1, "b", 2, {"foo":"bar"}]]
 ["foo",1,["a",1,"b",2,{"foo":"bar"}]]
 
+# Put escapes on both sides of runs of bytes that need no escaping
+map(tojson)
+["abcdefg\"", "abcdefgh\\", "abcdefghi\u0001j", "abcdefghijklmno\u007f", "abcdefgh\té", "abcdefghijklmnop\n"]
+["\"abcdefg\\\"\"","\"abcdefgh\\\\\"","\"abcdefghi\\u0001j\"","\"abcdefghijklmno\\u007f\"","\"abcdefgh\\té\"","\"abcdefghijklmnop\\n\""]
+
+[range(18) as $i | ("\"", "\\", "\u0001", "\u007f", "é", "😀") as $c | "abcdefghijklmnopq"[:$i] + $c + "abcdefghijklmnopq"[$i:] | (tojson | fromjson) == .] | all
+null
+true
+
 #
 # Dictionary construction syntax
 #
diff --git a/tests/utf8test b/tests/utf8test
index 37d8043f..e9512210 100755
--- a/tests/utf8test
+++ b/tests/utf8test
@@ -21,4 +21,18 @@ for l in 1 2 3 4; do
   fi
 done
 
+# --ascii-output escapes non-ASCII characters on both sides of runs of
+# bytes that need no escaping
+$VALGRIND $Q $JQ -cn '[range(18) as $i | ("é", "😀", "\u007f") as $c |
+  "abcdefghijklmnopq"[:$i] + $c + "abcdefghijklmnopq"[$i:]]' > $d/input
+$VALGRIND $Q $JQ -ac . $d/input > $d/out
+if LC_ALL=C grep -q '[^ -~]' $d/out; then
+  echo "--ascii-output printed a non-ASCII byte"
+  exit 1
+fi
+if ! $VALGRIND $Q $JQ -e --slurpfile a $d/input '. == $a[0]' $d/out > /dev/null; then
+  echo "--ascii-output changed a string"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 exit 0