diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 81f91882..233e353c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -34,3 +34,5 @@ test-driver
 Makefile.in
 
 *.plist
+
+json_parser
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 5c1a5196..49140d75 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-noinst_PROGRAMS = json_unit
+noinst_PROGRAMS = json_unit json_parser
 
 FLAGS = -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -Weffc++ -Wcast-align -Wcast-qual -Wctor-dtor-privacy -Wdisabled-optimization -Wformat=2 -Winit-self -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-include-dirs -Wold-style-cast -Woverloaded-virtual -Wredundant-decls -Wshadow -Wsign-conversion -Wsign-promo -Wstrict-overflow=5 -Wswitch -Wundef -Wno-unused -Wnon-virtual-dtor -Wreorder
 
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ json_unit_SOURCES = src/JSON.cc src/JSON.h test/catch.hpp test/JSON_unit.cc
 json_unit_CXXFLAGS = $(FLAGS) -std=c++11
 json_unit_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/src -I$(top_srcdir)/test -Dprivate=public
 
+json_parser_SOURCES = src/JSON.cc src/JSON.h benchmark/parse.cc
+json_parser_CXXFLAGS = $(FLAGS) -std=c++11
+json_parser_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/src -I$(top_srcdir)/benchmark
+
 cppcheck:
 	cppcheck --enable=all --inconclusive --std=c++11 src/JSON.*
 
diff --git a/benchmark/parse.cc b/benchmark/parse.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..02547afe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/parse.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#include "JSON.h"
+
+int main()
+{
+    JSON j;
+    j << std::cin;
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/JSON.cc b/src/JSON.cc
index c9b9fcdb..5445404e 100644
--- a/src/JSON.cc
+++ b/src/JSON.cc
@@ -1775,14 +1775,13 @@ Initialize the JSON parser given an input stream \p _is.
 */
 JSON::Parser::Parser(std::istream& _is)
 {
-    // determine length of input stream
-    _is.seekg(0, std::ios::end);
-    _length = static_cast<size_t>(_is.tellg());
-    _is.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
+    // copy stream to string
+    std::istreambuf_iterator<char> eos;
+    std::string string_input(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(_is), eos);
 
-    // copy stream to buffer
+    _length = string_input.size();
     _buffer = new char[_length + 1];
-    _is.read(_buffer, static_cast<std::streamsize>(_length));
+    std::strcpy(_buffer, string_input.c_str());
 
     // read first character
     next();