diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0e3426f..c9f643a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -263,7 +263,10 @@ These are the available config options for making requests. Only the `url` is re
   // as well as 'GET' downloads
   progress: function(progressEvent) {
     // Do whatever you want with the native progress event
-  }
+  },
+  
+  // `maxContentLength` defines the max size of the http response content allowed
+  maxContentLength: 2000
 }
 ```
 
diff --git a/lib/adapters/http.js b/lib/adapters/http.js
index 4befc07..3179251 100644
--- a/lib/adapters/http.js
+++ b/lib/adapters/http.js
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ module.exports = function httpAdapter(resolve, reject, config) {
     var responseBuffer = [];
     stream.on('data', function handleStreamData(chunk) {
       responseBuffer.push(chunk);
+
+      // make sure the content length is not over the maxContentLength if specified
+      if (config.maxContentLength > -1 && Buffer.concat(responseBuffer).length > config.maxContentLength) {
+        reject(new Error('maxContentLength size of ' + config.maxContentLength + ' exceeded'));
+      }
     });
 
     stream.on('end', function handleStreamEnd() {
diff --git a/lib/defaults.js b/lib/defaults.js
index 6a51c2c..45910c8 100644
--- a/lib/defaults.js
+++ b/lib/defaults.js
@@ -59,5 +59,7 @@ module.exports = {
   timeout: 0,
 
   xsrfCookieName: 'XSRF-TOKEN',
-  xsrfHeaderName: 'X-XSRF-TOKEN'
+  xsrfHeaderName: 'X-XSRF-TOKEN',
+
+  maxContentLength: -1
 };
diff --git a/test/unit/adapters/http.js b/test/unit/adapters/http.js
index 4bfcc7b..b7f2086 100644
--- a/test/unit/adapters/http.js
+++ b/test/unit/adapters/http.js
@@ -127,4 +127,31 @@ module.exports = {
       });
     });
   },
+  
+  testMaxContentLength: function(test) {
+    var str = Array(100000).join('ж');
+
+    server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
+      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html; charset=UTF-8');
+      res.end(str);
+    }).listen(4444, function () {
+      var success = false, failure = false, error;
+
+      axios.get('http://localhost:4444/', {
+        maxContentLength: 2000
+      }).then(function (res) {
+        success = true;
+      }).catch(function (res) {
+        error = res;
+        failure = true;
+      });
+      
+      setTimeout(function () {
+        test.equal(success, false, 'request should not succeed');
+        test.equal(failure, true, 'request should fail');
+        test.equal(error.message, 'maxContentLength size of 2000 exceeded');
+        test.done();
+      }, 100);
+    });
+  }
 };