diff --git a/src/encoding/json/bench_test.go b/src/encoding/json/bench_test.go
index bd322db2e6..72cb349062 100644
--- a/src/encoding/json/bench_test.go
+++ b/src/encoding/json/bench_test.go
@@ -114,6 +114,34 @@ func BenchmarkCodeMarshal(b *testing.B) {
 	b.SetBytes(int64(len(codeJSON)))
 }
 
+func benchMarshalBytes(n int) func(*testing.B) {
+	sample := []byte("hello world")
+	// Use a struct pointer, to avoid an allocation when passing it as an
+	// interface parameter to Marshal.
+	v := &struct {
+		Bytes []byte
+	}{
+		bytes.Repeat(sample, (n/len(sample))+1)[:n],
+	}
+	return func(b *testing.B) {
+		for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+			if _, err := Marshal(v); err != nil {
+				b.Fatal("Marshal:", err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMarshalBytes(b *testing.B) {
+	// 32 fits within encodeState.scratch.
+	b.Run("32", benchMarshalBytes(32))
+	// 256 doesn't fit in encodeState.scratch, but is small enough to
+	// allocate and avoid the slower base64.NewEncoder.
+	b.Run("256", benchMarshalBytes(256))
+	// 4096 is large enough that we want to avoid allocating for it.
+	b.Run("4096", benchMarshalBytes(4096))
+}
+
 func BenchmarkCodeDecoder(b *testing.B) {
 	if codeJSON == nil {
 		b.StopTimer()
diff --git a/src/encoding/json/encode.go b/src/encoding/json/encode.go
index 632c12404a..d5fe4d6b78 100644
--- a/src/encoding/json/encode.go
+++ b/src/encoding/json/encode.go
@@ -718,14 +718,22 @@ func encodeByteSlice(e *encodeState, v reflect.Value, _ encOpts) {
 	}
 	s := v.Bytes()
 	e.WriteByte('"')
-	if len(s) < 1024 {
-		// for small buffers, using Encode directly is much faster.
-		dst := make([]byte, base64.StdEncoding.EncodedLen(len(s)))
+	encodedLen := base64.StdEncoding.EncodedLen(len(s))
+	if encodedLen <= len(e.scratch) {
+		// If the encoded bytes fit in e.scratch, avoid an extra
+		// allocation and use the cheaper Encoding.Encode.
+		dst := e.scratch[:encodedLen]
+		base64.StdEncoding.Encode(dst, s)
+		e.Write(dst)
+	} else if encodedLen <= 1024 {
+		// The encoded bytes are short enough to allocate for, and
+		// Encoding.Encode is still cheaper.
+		dst := make([]byte, encodedLen)
 		base64.StdEncoding.Encode(dst, s)
 		e.Write(dst)
 	} else {
-		// for large buffers, avoid unnecessary extra temporary
-		// buffer space.
+		// The encoded bytes are too long to cheaply allocate, and
+		// Encoding.Encode is no longer noticeably cheaper.
 		enc := base64.NewEncoder(base64.StdEncoding, e)
 		enc.Write(s)
 		enc.Close()