diff --git a/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/io/BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder.java b/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/io/BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder.java
index aaea657c3e6..fa6e9ddf289 100644
--- a/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/io/BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder.java
+++ b/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/io/BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
 /**
  * An {@link Encoder} for Avro's binary encoding that does not buffer output.
@@ -30,9 +31,9 @@
  * very short-lived.
  * <p/>
  * To construct, use
- * {@link EncoderFactory#directBinaryEncoder(OutputStream, BinaryEncoder)}
+ * {@link EncoderFactory#blockingDirectBinaryEncoder(OutputStream, BinaryEncoder)}
  * <p/>
- * DirectBinaryEncoder is not thread-safe
+ * BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder is not thread-safe
  *
  * @see BinaryEncoder
  * @see EncoderFactory
@@ -40,9 +41,9 @@
  * @see Decoder
  */
 public class BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder extends DirectBinaryEncoder {
-  private OutputStream originalStream;
+  private static final ThreadLocal<BufferOutputStream> BUFFER = ThreadLocal.withInitial(BufferOutputStream::new);
 
-  private final ByteArrayOutputStream buffer;
+  private OutputStream originalStream;
 
   private boolean inBlock = false;
 
@@ -56,7 +57,6 @@ public class BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder extends DirectBinaryEncoder {
    */
   public BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder(OutputStream out) {
     super(out);
-    buffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
   }
 
   private void startBlock() {
@@ -64,7 +64,9 @@ private void startBlock() {
       throw new RuntimeException("Nested Maps/Arrays are not supported by the BlockingDirectBinaryEncoder");
     }
     originalStream = out;
-    out = buffer;
+    BufferOutputStream buf = BUFFER.get();
+    buf.reset();
+    out = buf;
     inBlock = true;
   }
 
@@ -72,19 +74,20 @@ private void endBlock() {
     if (!inBlock) {
       throw new RuntimeException("Called endBlock, while not buffering a block");
     }
+    BufferOutputStream buf = (BufferOutputStream) out;
     out = originalStream;
     if (blockItemCount > 0) {
       try {
         // Make it negative, so the reader knows that the number of bytes is coming
         writeLong(-blockItemCount);
-        writeLong(buffer.size());
-        writeBytes(buffer.toByteArray());
+        writeLong(buf.size());
+        writeFixed(buf.toBufferWithoutCopy());
       } catch (IOException e) {
         throw new RuntimeException(e);
       }
     }
     inBlock = false;
-    buffer.reset();
+    buf.reset();
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -115,4 +118,14 @@ public void writeMapEnd() throws IOException {
     // Writes another zero to indicate that this is the last block
     super.writeMapEnd();
   }
+
+  private static class BufferOutputStream extends ByteArrayOutputStream {
+    BufferOutputStream() {
+    }
+
+    ByteBuffer toBufferWithoutCopy() {
+      return ByteBuffer.wrap(buf, 0, count);
+    }
+
+  }
 }