diff --git a/compression.go b/compression.go
index ee43412b..0a1db568 100644
--- a/compression.go
+++ b/compression.go
@@ -96,17 +96,13 @@ func (c *compressionPool) Decompress(dst *bytes.Buffer, src *bytes.Buffer, readM
 		}
 		return errorf(CodeInvalidArgument, "decompress: %w", err)
 	}
-	if readMaxBytes > 0 && bytesRead > readMaxBytes {
-		discardedBytes, err := io.Copy(io.Discard, decompressor)
-		_ = c.putDecompressor(decompressor)
-		if err != nil {
-			return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "message is larger than configured max %d - unable to determine message size: %w", readMaxBytes, err)
-		}
-		return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "message size %d is larger than configured max %d", bytesRead+discardedBytes, readMaxBytes)
-	}
 	if err := c.putDecompressor(decompressor); err != nil {
 		return errorf(CodeUnknown, "recycle decompressor: %w", err)
 	}
+	if readMaxBytes > 0 && bytesRead > readMaxBytes {
+		// Resource is exhausted, fail fast without reading more data from the reader.
+		return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "decompressed message size is larger than configured max %d", readMaxBytes)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/connect_ext_test.go b/connect_ext_test.go
index b93c5708..a783e85d 100644
--- a/connect_ext_test.go
+++ b/connect_ext_test.go
@@ -1197,7 +1197,6 @@ func TestHandlerWithReadMaxBytes(t *testing.T) {
 			_, err := client.Ping(context.Background(), connect.NewRequest(pingRequest))
 			assert.NotNil(t, err, assert.Sprintf("expected non-nil error for large message"))
 			assert.Equal(t, connect.CodeOf(err), connect.CodeResourceExhausted)
-			assert.True(t, strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), fmt.Sprintf("message size %d is larger than configured max %d", proto.Size(pingRequest), readMaxBytes)))
 		})
 		t.Run("read_max_large", func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
@@ -1206,16 +1205,14 @@ func TestHandlerWithReadMaxBytes(t *testing.T) {
 			}
 			// Serializes to much larger than readMaxBytes (5 MiB)
 			pingRequest := &pingv1.PingRequest{Text: strings.Repeat("abcde", 1024*1024)}
-			expectedSize := proto.Size(pingRequest)
 			// With gzip request compression, the error should indicate the envelope size (before decompression) is too large.
 			if compressed {
-				expectedSize = gzipCompressedSize(t, pingRequest)
+				expectedSize := gzipCompressedSize(t, pingRequest)
 				assert.True(t, expectedSize > readMaxBytes, assert.Sprintf("expected compressed size %d > %d", expectedSize, readMaxBytes))
 			}
 			_, err := client.Ping(context.Background(), connect.NewRequest(pingRequest))
 			assert.NotNil(t, err, assert.Sprintf("expected non-nil error for large message"))
 			assert.Equal(t, connect.CodeOf(err), connect.CodeResourceExhausted)
-			assert.Equal(t, err.Error(), fmt.Sprintf("resource_exhausted: message size %d is larger than configured max %d", expectedSize, readMaxBytes))
 		})
 	}
 	newHTTP2Server := func(t *testing.T) *memhttp.Server {
@@ -1378,7 +1375,6 @@ func TestClientWithReadMaxBytes(t *testing.T) {
 			_, err := client.Ping(context.Background(), connect.NewRequest(pingRequest))
 			assert.NotNil(t, err, assert.Sprintf("expected non-nil error for large message"))
 			assert.Equal(t, connect.CodeOf(err), connect.CodeResourceExhausted)
-			assert.True(t, strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), fmt.Sprintf("message size %d is larger than configured max %d", proto.Size(pingRequest), readMaxBytes)))
 		})
 		t.Run("read_max_large", func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
@@ -1397,7 +1393,6 @@ func TestClientWithReadMaxBytes(t *testing.T) {
 			_, err := client.Ping(context.Background(), connect.NewRequest(pingRequest))
 			assert.NotNil(t, err, assert.Sprintf("expected non-nil error for large message"))
 			assert.Equal(t, connect.CodeOf(err), connect.CodeResourceExhausted)
-			assert.Equal(t, err.Error(), fmt.Sprintf("resource_exhausted: message size %d is larger than configured max %d", expectedSize, readMaxBytes))
 		})
 	}
 	t.Run("connect", func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/envelope.go b/envelope.go
index bc85c551..ec296dee 100644
--- a/envelope.go
+++ b/envelope.go
@@ -228,9 +228,13 @@ type envelopeReader struct {
 	compressionPool *compressionPool
 	bufferPool      *bufferPool
 	readMaxBytes    int
+	isEOF           bool
 }
 
 func (r *envelopeReader) Unmarshal(message any) *Error {
+	if r.isEOF {
+		return NewError(CodeInternal, io.EOF)
+	}
 	buffer := r.bufferPool.Get()
 	var dontRelease *bytes.Buffer
 	defer func() {
@@ -240,25 +244,20 @@ func (r *envelopeReader) Unmarshal(message any) *Error {
 	}()
 
 	env := &envelope{Data: buffer}
-	err := r.Read(env)
-	switch {
-	case err == nil && env.IsSet(flagEnvelopeCompressed) && r.compressionPool == nil:
+	if err := r.Read(env); err != nil {
+		// Mark the reader as EOF so that subsequent reads return EOF.
+		r.isEOF = true
+		return err
+	}
+	if env.IsSet(flagEnvelopeCompressed) && r.compressionPool == nil {
 		return errorf(
 			CodeInternal,
 			"protocol error: sent compressed message without compression support",
 		)
-	case err == nil &&
-		(env.Flags == 0 || env.Flags == flagEnvelopeCompressed) &&
-		env.Data.Len() == 0:
+	} else if (env.Flags == 0 || env.Flags == flagEnvelopeCompressed) && env.Data.Len() == 0 {
 		// This is a standard message (because none of the top 7 bits are set) and
 		// there's no data, so the zero value of the message is correct.
 		return nil
-	case err != nil && errors.Is(err, io.EOF):
-		// The stream has ended. Propagate the EOF to the caller.
-		return err
-	case err != nil:
-		// Something's wrong.
-		return err
 	}
 
 	data := env.Data
@@ -317,7 +316,7 @@ func (r *envelopeReader) Read(env *envelope) *Error {
 			// The stream ended cleanly. That's expected, but we need to propagate an EOF
 			// to the user so that they know that the stream has ended. We shouldn't
 			// add any alarming text about protocol errors, though.
-			return NewError(CodeUnknown, err)
+			return NewError(CodeInternal, err)
 		}
 		err = wrapIfMaxBytesError(err, "read 5 byte message prefix")
 		err = wrapIfContextDone(r.ctx, err)
@@ -332,12 +331,8 @@ func (r *envelopeReader) Read(env *envelope) *Error {
 	}
 	size := int64(binary.BigEndian.Uint32(prefixes[1:5]))
 	if r.readMaxBytes > 0 && size > int64(r.readMaxBytes) {
-		n, err := io.CopyN(io.Discard, r.reader, size)
-		r.bytesRead += n
-		if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-			return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "message is larger than configured max %d - unable to determine message size: %w", r.readMaxBytes, err)
-		}
-		return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "message size %d is larger than configured max %d", size, r.readMaxBytes)
+		// Resource is exhausted, fail fast without reading more data from the stream.
+		return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "received message size %d is larger than configured max %d", size, r.readMaxBytes)
 	}
 	// We've read the prefix, so we know how many bytes to expect.
 	// CopyN will return an error if it doesn't read the requested
diff --git a/protocol.go b/protocol.go
index 9add614c..dc8e3d06 100644
--- a/protocol.go
+++ b/protocol.go
@@ -287,12 +287,12 @@ func isCommaOrSpace(c rune) bool {
 }
 
 func discard(reader io.Reader) (int64, error) {
-	if lr, ok := reader.(*io.LimitedReader); ok {
-		return io.Copy(io.Discard, lr)
-	}
 	// We don't want to get stuck throwing data away forever, so limit how much
 	// we're willing to do here.
-	lr := &io.LimitedReader{R: reader, N: discardLimit}
+	lr, ok := reader.(*io.LimitedReader)
+	if !ok {
+		lr = &io.LimitedReader{R: reader, N: discardLimit}
+	}
 	return io.Copy(io.Discard, lr)
 }
 
diff --git a/protocol_connect.go b/protocol_connect.go
index 6828ab4d..5f7cec94 100644
--- a/protocol_connect.go
+++ b/protocol_connect.go
@@ -1088,8 +1088,8 @@ type connectUnaryUnmarshaler struct {
 	codec           Codec
 	compressionPool *compressionPool
 	bufferPool      *bufferPool
-	alreadyRead     bool
 	readMaxBytes    int
+	isEOF           bool
 }
 
 func (u *connectUnaryUnmarshaler) Unmarshal(message any) *Error {
@@ -1097,10 +1097,10 @@ func (u *connectUnaryUnmarshaler) Unmarshal(message any) *Error {
 }
 
 func (u *connectUnaryUnmarshaler) UnmarshalFunc(message any, unmarshal func([]byte, any) error) *Error {
-	if u.alreadyRead {
+	if u.isEOF {
 		return NewError(CodeInternal, io.EOF)
 	}
-	u.alreadyRead = true
+	u.isEOF = true
 	data := u.bufferPool.Get()
 	defer u.bufferPool.Put(data)
 	reader := u.reader
@@ -1118,12 +1118,8 @@ func (u *connectUnaryUnmarshaler) UnmarshalFunc(message any, unmarshal func([]by
 		return errorf(CodeUnknown, "read message: %w", err)
 	}
 	if u.readMaxBytes > 0 && bytesRead > int64(u.readMaxBytes) {
-		// Attempt to read to end in order to allow connection re-use
-		discardedBytes, err := io.Copy(io.Discard, u.reader)
-		if err != nil {
-			return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "message is larger than configured max %d - unable to determine message size: %w", u.readMaxBytes, err)
-		}
-		return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "message size %d is larger than configured max %d", bytesRead+discardedBytes, u.readMaxBytes)
+		// Resource is exhausted, fail fast without reading more data from the stream.
+		return errorf(CodeResourceExhausted, "message size is larger than configured max %d", u.readMaxBytes)
 	}
 	if data.Len() > 0 && u.compressionPool != nil {
 		decompressed := u.bufferPool.Get()
diff --git a/protocol_grpc.go b/protocol_grpc.go
index e10ecad7..db1890e8 100644
--- a/protocol_grpc.go
+++ b/protocol_grpc.go
@@ -319,8 +319,8 @@ func (g *grpcClient) NewConn(
 		}
 	} else {
 		conn.readTrailers = func(_ *grpcUnmarshaler, call *duplexHTTPCall) http.Header {
-			// To access HTTP trailers, we need to read the body to EOF.
-			_, _ = discard(call)
+			// Caller must guarantee the body is read to EOF to access
+			// trailers.
 			return call.ResponseTrailer()
 		}
 	}