diff --git a/src/libvirt.c b/src/libvirt.c
index 467f6dde45..33a4419941 100644
--- a/src/libvirt.c
+++ b/src/libvirt.c
@@ -7786,6 +7786,8 @@ error:
  * For your program to be able to work reliably over a remote
  * connection you should split large requests to <= 65536 bytes.
  * However, with 0.9.13 this RPC limit has been raised to 1M byte.
+ * Starting with version 1.0.6 the RPC limit has been raised again.
+ * Now large requests up to 16M byte are supported.
  *
  * Returns: 0 in case of success or -1 in case of failure.
  */
@@ -7936,6 +7938,8 @@ error:
  * For your program to be able to work reliably over a remote
  * connection you should split large requests to <= 65536 bytes.
  * However, with 0.9.13 this RPC limit has been raised to 1M byte.
+ * Starting with version 1.0.6 the RPC limit has been raised again.
+ * Now large requests up to 16M byte are supported.
  *
  * Returns: 0 in case of success or -1 in case of failure.
  */
diff --git a/src/remote/remote_protocol.x b/src/remote/remote_protocol.x
index 512ba2e292..f61d10c0cd 100644
--- a/src/remote/remote_protocol.x
+++ b/src/remote/remote_protocol.x
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
  * This is an arbitrary limit designed to stop the decoder from trying
  * to allocate unbounded amounts of memory when fed with a bad message.
  */
-const REMOTE_STRING_MAX = 1048576;
+const REMOTE_STRING_MAX = 4194304;
 
 /* A long string, which may NOT be NULL. */
 typedef string remote_nonnull_string<REMOTE_STRING_MAX>;
@@ -160,13 +160,13 @@ const REMOTE_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_LIST_NAMES_MAX = 1024;
  * Note applications need to be aware of this limit and issue multiple
  * requests for large amounts of data.
  */
-const REMOTE_DOMAIN_BLOCK_PEEK_BUFFER_MAX = 1048576;
+const REMOTE_DOMAIN_BLOCK_PEEK_BUFFER_MAX = 4194304;
 
 /* Maximum length of a memory peek buffer message.
  * Note applications need to be aware of this limit and issue multiple
  * requests for large amounts of data.
  */
-const REMOTE_DOMAIN_MEMORY_PEEK_BUFFER_MAX = 1048576;
+const REMOTE_DOMAIN_MEMORY_PEEK_BUFFER_MAX = 4194304;
 
 /*
  * Maximum length of a security label list.
diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c
index 647fef7be4..b2c6e5b02a 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ int virNetMessageEncodeHeader(virNetMessagePtr msg)
     int ret = -1;
     unsigned int len = 0;
 
-    msg->bufferLength = VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX + VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX;
+    msg->bufferLength = VIR_NET_MESSAGE_INITIAL + VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX;
     if (VIR_REALLOC_N(msg->buffer, msg->bufferLength) < 0) {
         virReportOOMError();
         return ret;
@@ -351,9 +351,27 @@ int virNetMessageEncodePayload(virNetMessagePtr msg,
     xdrmem_create(&xdr, msg->buffer + msg->bufferOffset,
                   msg->bufferLength - msg->bufferOffset, XDR_ENCODE);
 
-    if (!(*filter)(&xdr, data)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_RPC, "%s", _("Unable to encode message payload"));
-        goto error;
+    /* Try to encode the payload. If the buffer is too small increase it. */
+    while (!(*filter)(&xdr, data)) {
+        if ((msg->bufferLength - VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX) * 4 > VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_RPC, "%s", _("Unable to encode message payload"));
+            goto error;
+        }
+
+        xdr_destroy(&xdr);
+
+        msg->bufferLength = (msg->bufferLength - VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX) * 4 +
+            VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX;
+
+        if (VIR_REALLOC_N(msg->buffer, msg->bufferLength) < 0) {
+            virReportOOMError();
+            goto error;
+        }
+
+        xdrmem_create(&xdr, msg->buffer + msg->bufferOffset,
+                      msg->bufferLength - msg->bufferOffset, XDR_ENCODE);
+
+        VIR_DEBUG("Increased message buffer length = %zu", msg->bufferLength);
     }
 
     /* Get the length stored in buffer. */
@@ -415,11 +433,23 @@ int virNetMessageEncodePayloadRaw(virNetMessagePtr msg,
     XDR xdr;
     unsigned int msglen;
 
+    /* If the message buffer is too small for the payload increase it accordingly. */
     if ((msg->bufferLength - msg->bufferOffset) < len) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_RPC,
-                    _("Stream data too long to send (%zu bytes needed, %zu bytes available)"),
-                    len, (msg->bufferLength - msg->bufferOffset));
-        return -1;
+        if ((msg->bufferOffset + len) > VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_RPC,
+                           _("Stream data too long to send (%zu bytes needed, %zu bytes available)"),
+                           len, (VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX - msg->bufferOffset));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        msg->bufferLength = msg->bufferOffset + len;
+
+        if (VIR_REALLOC_N(msg->buffer, msg->bufferLength) < 0) {
+            virReportOOMError();
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        VIR_DEBUG("Increased message buffer length = %zu", msg->bufferLength);
     }
 
     memcpy(msg->buffer + msg->bufferOffset, data, len);
diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h
index dfa1c6ca87..c94dddc259 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ typedef void (*virNetMessageFreeCallback)(virNetMessagePtr msg, void *opaque);
 struct _virNetMessage {
     bool tracked;
 
-    char *buffer; /* Typically VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX + VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX */
+    char *buffer; /* Initially VIR_NET_MESSAGE_INITIAL + VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX */
+                  /* Maximum   VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX     + VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX */
     size_t bufferLength;
     size_t bufferOffset;
 
diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x b/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x
index eb2e81d7d4..131e40b1c3 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x
@@ -44,23 +44,31 @@
 
 /*----- Data types. -----*/
 
+/* Initial message size.
+ * When the message payload is larger this initial size will be
+ * quadrupled until the maximum total message size is reached.
+ */
+const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_INITIAL = 65536;
+
 /* Maximum total message size (serialised). */
-const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX = 4194304;
+const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX = 16777216;
 
 /* Size of struct virNetMessageHeader (serialised)*/
 const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_HEADER_MAX = 24;
 
 /* Size of message payload */
-const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_PAYLOAD_MAX = 4194280;
+const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_PAYLOAD_MAX = 16777192;
 
-/* Size of message length field. Not counted in VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX */
+/* Size of message length field. Not counted in VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX
+ * and VIR_NET_MESSAGE_INITIAL.
+ */
 const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX = 4;
 
 /* Length of long, but not unbounded, strings.
  * This is an arbitrary limit designed to stop the decoder from trying
  * to allocate unbounded amounts of memory when fed with a bad message.
  */
-const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_STRING_MAX = 1048576;
+const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_STRING_MAX = 4194304;
 
 /* Limit on number of File Descriptors allowed to be
  * passed per message
diff --git a/tests/virnetmessagetest.c b/tests/virnetmessagetest.c
index 96defe420f..fabeffd19b 100644
--- a/tests/virnetmessagetest.c
+++ b/tests/virnetmessagetest.c
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ static int testMessageHeaderEncode(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
     };
     /* According to doc to virNetMessageEncodeHeader(&msg):
      * msg->buffer will be this long */
-    unsigned long msg_buf_size = VIR_NET_MESSAGE_MAX + VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX;
+    unsigned long msg_buf_size = VIR_NET_MESSAGE_INITIAL + VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX;
     int ret = -1;
 
     if (!msg) {