diff --git a/conf/nginx.conf.tpl b/conf/nginx.conf.tpl
index 325a0ff..15da2fb 100644
--- a/conf/nginx.conf.tpl
+++ b/conf/nginx.conf.tpl
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ http {
         location / {
             # Reverse proxy settings
             include     /gateway/conf/proxy.conf;
+            include     /gateway/conf/proxy_large_headers.conf;
 
             # Immediate set/re-use means we don't get resolve errors if not up (as opposed to passing as a literal)
             set         $upstream_auth http://${BENTOV2_AUTH_CONTAINER_NAME}:${BENTOV2_AUTH_INTERNAL_PORT_PLAIN_HTTP};
diff --git a/conf/proxy.conf b/conf/proxy.conf
index 3ddc676..499c428 100644
--- a/conf/proxy.conf
+++ b/conf/proxy.conf
@@ -11,4 +11,8 @@ proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Proto   $scheme;
 proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Host    $host;
 proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For     $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
 
+# increase size of response buffers for returning larger responses
+# (small-medium files, large JSON responses, etc.)
+proxy_buffers 64 4k;
+
 proxy_ignore_client_abort   on;
diff --git a/conf/proxy_large_headers.conf b/conf/proxy_large_headers.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2bfd2b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/proxy_large_headers.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# inspired by https://www.getpagespeed.com/server-setup/nginx/tuning-proxy_buffer_size-in-nginx
+# proxy_buffers is set in proxy.conf
+
+proxy_buffer_size 16k;
+proxy_busy_buffers_size 24k;