diff -r 8c8315bac6a8 Lib/gzip.py
--- a/Lib/gzip.py	Sun Apr 20 09:45:00 2014 -0700
+++ b/Lib/gzip.py	Sun Apr 20 19:06:28 2014 -0500
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 READ, WRITE = 1, 2
 
+_CHUNK_SIZE = 16 * 1024
+
 def open(filename, mode="rb", compresslevel=9,
          encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None):
     """Open a gzip-compressed file in binary or text mode.
@@ -355,7 +357,7 @@
         if self.extrasize <= 0 and self.fileobj is None:
             return b''
 
-        readsize = 1024
+        readsize = _CHUNK_SIZE
         if size < 0:        # get the whole thing
             while self._read(readsize):
                 readsize = min(self.max_read_chunk, readsize * 2)
@@ -410,8 +412,8 @@
             if self.fileobj is None:
                 return b''
             # Ensure that we don't return b"" if we haven't reached EOF.
-            # 1024 is the same buffering heuristic used in read()
-            while self.extrasize == 0 and self._read(max(n, 1024)):
+            # _CHUNK_SIZE is the same buffering heuristic used in read()
+            while self.extrasize == 0 and self._read(max(n, _CHUNK_SIZE)):
                 pass
         offset = self.offset - self.extrastart
         remaining = self.extrasize
@@ -422,7 +424,7 @@
         self.extrasize = len(buf) + self.extrasize
         self.offset -= len(buf)
 
-    def _read(self, size=1024):
+    def _read(self, size=_CHUNK_SIZE):
         if self.fileobj is None:
             return False
 
@@ -560,18 +562,18 @@
             if offset < self.offset:
                 raise OSError('Negative seek in write mode')
             count = offset - self.offset
-            chunk = bytes(1024)
-            for i in range(count // 1024):
+            chunk = bytes(_CHUNK_SIZE)
+            for i in range(count // _CHUNK_SIZE):
                 self.write(chunk)
-            self.write(bytes(count % 1024))
+            self.write(bytes(count % _CHUNK_SIZE))
         elif self.mode == READ:
             if offset < self.offset:
                 # for negative seek, rewind and do positive seek
                 self.rewind()
             count = offset - self.offset
-            for i in range(count // 1024):
-                self.read(1024)
-            self.read(count % 1024)
+            for i in range(count // _CHUNK_SIZE):
+                self.read(_CHUNK_SIZE)
+            self.read(count % _CHUNK_SIZE)
 
         return self.offset