diff --git a/src/log-pcap.c b/src/log-pcap.c
index fee617073e..ebd99342ab 100644
--- a/src/log-pcap.c
+++ b/src/log-pcap.c
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ typedef enum LogModeConditionalType_ {
 #define HONOR_PASS_RULES_ENABLED        1
 
 #define PCAP_SNAPLEN                    262144
+#define PCAP_BUFFER_TIMEOUT             1000000 // microseconds
 
 SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(uint32_t, thread_cnt);
 
@@ -188,6 +189,7 @@ typedef struct PcapLogData_ {
     int threads;                /**< number of threads (only set in the global) */
     char *filename_parts[MAX_TOKS];
     int filename_part_cnt;
+    struct timeval last_pcap_dump;
 
     PcapLogCompressionData compression;
 } PcapLogData;
@@ -514,6 +516,8 @@ static void PcapLogUnlock(PcapLogData *pl)
 static inline int PcapWrite(
         PcapLogData *pl, PcapLogCompressionData *comp, uint8_t *data, size_t len)
 {
+    struct timeval current_dump;
+    gettimeofday(&current_dump, NULL);
     pcap_dump((u_char *)pl->pcap_dumper, pl->h, data);
     if (pl->compression.format == PCAP_LOG_COMPRESSION_FORMAT_NONE) {
         pl->size_current += len;
@@ -544,6 +548,10 @@ static inline int PcapWrite(
         }
     }
 #endif /* HAVE_LIBLZ4 */
+    if (TimeDifferenceMicros(pl->last_pcap_dump, current_dump) >= PCAP_BUFFER_TIMEOUT) {
+        pcap_dump_flush(pl->pcap_dumper);
+    }
+    pl->last_pcap_dump = current_dump;
     return TM_ECODE_OK;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util-time.c b/src/util-time.c
index 3186435311..dacd01d8d5 100644
--- a/src/util-time.c
+++ b/src/util-time.c
@@ -647,3 +647,8 @@ uint64_t SCTimespecAsEpochMillis(const struct timespec* ts)
 {
     return ts->tv_sec * 1000L + ts->tv_nsec / 1000000L;
 }
+
+uint64_t TimeDifferenceMicros(struct timeval t0, struct timeval t1)
+{
+    return (uint64_t)(t1.tv_sec - t0.tv_sec) * 1000000 + (t1.tv_usec - t1.tv_usec);
+}
diff --git a/src/util-time.h b/src/util-time.h
index 501a2ebc3f..f33e094aff 100644
--- a/src/util-time.h
+++ b/src/util-time.h
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ int SCTimeToStringPattern (time_t epoch, const char *pattern, char *str,
 uint64_t SCParseTimeSizeString (const char *str);
 uint64_t SCGetSecondsUntil (const char *str, time_t epoch);
 uint64_t SCTimespecAsEpochMillis(const struct timespec *ts);
+uint64_t TimeDifferenceMicros(struct timeval t0, struct timeval t1);
 
 #endif /* __UTIL_TIME_H__ */