diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index adc373f85..8a9d0bdff 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -188,6 +188,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "utf8-width",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bytecount"
+version = "0.6.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "72feb31ffc86498dacdbd0fcebb56138e7177a8cc5cea4516031d15ae85a742e"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "byteorder"
 version = "1.4.3"
@@ -3110,6 +3116,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "uu_wc"
 version = "0.0.7"
 dependencies = [
+ "bytecount",
  "clap",
  "libc",
  "nix 0.20.0",
diff --git a/src/uu/wc/Cargo.toml b/src/uu/wc/Cargo.toml
index 31a7ac7af..49735adf7 100644
--- a/src/uu/wc/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/uu/wc/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ clap = { version = "2.33", features = ["wrap_help"] }
 uucore = { version=">=0.0.9", package="uucore", path="../../uucore" }
 uucore_procs = { version=">=0.0.6", package="uucore_procs", path="../../uucore_procs" }
 thiserror = "1.0"
+bytecount = "0.6.2"
 
 [target.'cfg(unix)'.dependencies]
 nix = "0.20"
diff --git a/src/uu/wc/src/count_bytes.rs b/src/uu/wc/src/count_fast.rs
similarity index 63%
rename from src/uu/wc/src/count_bytes.rs
rename to src/uu/wc/src/count_fast.rs
index 83cc71ac4..b23e9ed8f 100644
--- a/src/uu/wc/src/count_bytes.rs
+++ b/src/uu/wc/src/count_fast.rs
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
+use crate::word_count::WordCount;
+
 use super::{WcResult, WordCountable};
 
 #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))]
 use std::fs::{File, OpenOptions};
-use std::io::ErrorKind;
+use std::io::{ErrorKind, Read};
 
 #[cfg(unix)]
 use libc::S_IFREG;
 #[cfg(unix)]
-use nix::sys::stat::fstat;
+use nix::sys::stat;
 #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))]
 use std::os::unix::io::{AsRawFd, FromRawFd, RawFd};
 
@@ -18,7 +20,8 @@ use nix::fcntl::{splice, SpliceFFlags};
 #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))]
 use nix::unistd::pipe;
 
-const BUF_SIZE: usize = 16384;
+const BUF_SIZE: usize = 16 * 1024;
+const SPLICE_SIZE: usize = 128 * 1024;
 
 /// Splice wrapper which handles short writes
 #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))]
@@ -37,15 +40,24 @@ fn splice_exact(read_fd: RawFd, write_fd: RawFd, num_bytes: usize) -> nix::Resul
 
 /// This is a Linux-specific function to count the number of bytes using the
 /// `splice` system call, which is faster than using `read`.
+///
+/// On error it returns the number of bytes it did manage to read, since the
+/// caller will fall back to a simpler method.
 #[inline]
 #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))]
-fn count_bytes_using_splice(fd: RawFd) -> nix::Result<usize> {
+fn count_bytes_using_splice(fd: RawFd) -> Result<usize, usize> {
     let null_file = OpenOptions::new()
         .write(true)
         .open("/dev/null")
-        .map_err(|_| nix::Error::last())?;
+        .map_err(|_| 0_usize)?;
     let null = null_file.as_raw_fd();
-    let (pipe_rd, pipe_wr) = pipe()?;
+    let null_rdev = stat::fstat(null).map_err(|_| 0_usize)?.st_rdev;
+    if (stat::major(null_rdev), stat::minor(null_rdev)) != (1, 3) {
+        // This is not a proper /dev/null, writing to it is probably bad
+        // Bit of an edge case, but it has been known to happen
+        return Err(0);
+    }
+    let (pipe_rd, pipe_wr) = pipe().map_err(|_| 0_usize)?;
 
     // Ensure the pipe is closed when the function returns.
     // SAFETY: The file descriptors do not have other owners.
@@ -53,12 +65,16 @@ fn count_bytes_using_splice(fd: RawFd) -> nix::Result<usize> {
 
     let mut byte_count = 0;
     loop {
-        let res = splice(fd, None, pipe_wr, None, BUF_SIZE, SpliceFFlags::empty())?;
-        if res == 0 {
-            break;
-        }
-        byte_count += res;
-        splice_exact(pipe_rd, null, res)?;
+        match splice(fd, None, pipe_wr, None, SPLICE_SIZE, SpliceFFlags::empty()) {
+            Ok(0) => break,
+            Ok(res) => {
+                byte_count += res;
+                if splice_exact(pipe_rd, null, res).is_err() {
+                    return Err(byte_count);
+                }
+            }
+            Err(_) => return Err(byte_count),
+        };
     }
 
     Ok(byte_count)
@@ -73,10 +89,12 @@ fn count_bytes_using_splice(fd: RawFd) -> nix::Result<usize> {
 ///      other things such as lines and words.
 #[inline]
 pub(crate) fn count_bytes_fast<T: WordCountable>(handle: &mut T) -> WcResult<usize> {
+    let mut byte_count = 0;
+
     #[cfg(unix)]
     {
         let fd = handle.as_raw_fd();
-        if let Ok(stat) = fstat(fd) {
+        if let Ok(stat) = stat::fstat(fd) {
             // If the file is regular, then the `st_size` should hold
             // the file's size in bytes.
             if (stat.st_mode & S_IFREG) != 0 {
@@ -87,8 +105,9 @@ pub(crate) fn count_bytes_fast<T: WordCountable>(handle: &mut T) -> WcResult<usi
                 // Else, if we're on Linux and our file is a FIFO pipe
                 // (or stdin), we use splice to count the number of bytes.
                 if (stat.st_mode & S_IFIFO) != 0 {
-                    if let Ok(n) = count_bytes_using_splice(fd) {
-                        return Ok(n);
+                    match count_bytes_using_splice(fd) {
+                        Ok(n) => return Ok(n),
+                        Err(n) => byte_count = n,
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -97,7 +116,6 @@ pub(crate) fn count_bytes_fast<T: WordCountable>(handle: &mut T) -> WcResult<usi
 
     // Fall back on `read`, but without the overhead of counting words and lines.
     let mut buf = [0_u8; BUF_SIZE];
-    let mut byte_count = 0;
     loop {
         match handle.read(&mut buf) {
             Ok(0) => return Ok(byte_count),
@@ -109,3 +127,19 @@ pub(crate) fn count_bytes_fast<T: WordCountable>(handle: &mut T) -> WcResult<usi
         }
     }
 }
+
+pub(crate) fn count_bytes_and_lines_fast<R: Read>(handle: &mut R) -> WcResult<WordCount> {
+    let mut total = WordCount::default();
+    let mut buf = [0; BUF_SIZE];
+    loop {
+        match handle.read(&mut buf) {
+            Ok(0) => return Ok(total),
+            Ok(n) => {
+                total.bytes += n;
+                total.lines += bytecount::count(&buf[..n], b'\n');
+            }
+            Err(ref e) if e.kind() == ErrorKind::Interrupted => continue,
+            Err(e) => return Err(e.into()),
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/uu/wc/src/countable.rs b/src/uu/wc/src/countable.rs
index 3da910a03..098c451c7 100644
--- a/src/uu/wc/src/countable.rs
+++ b/src/uu/wc/src/countable.rs
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ impl WordCountable for StdinLock<'_> {
     where
         Self: Sized,
     {
-        Lines { buf: self }
+        Lines::new(self)
     }
 }
 impl WordCountable for File {
@@ -38,9 +38,7 @@ impl WordCountable for File {
     where
         Self: Sized,
     {
-        Lines {
-            buf: BufReader::new(self),
-        }
+        Lines::new(BufReader::new(self))
     }
 }
 
@@ -53,19 +51,25 @@ impl WordCountable for File {
 /// [`io::Lines`]:: io::Lines
 pub struct Lines<B> {
     buf: B,
+    line: Vec<u8>,
 }
 
-impl<B: BufRead> Iterator for Lines<B> {
-    type Item = io::Result<Vec<u8>>;
+impl<B: BufRead> Lines<B> {
+    fn new(reader: B) -> Self {
+        Lines {
+            buf: reader,
+            line: Vec::new(),
+        }
+    }
 
-    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
-        let mut line = Vec::new();
+    pub fn next(&mut self) -> Option<io::Result<&[u8]>> {
+        self.line.clear();
 
         // reading from a TTY seems to raise a condition on, rather than return Some(0) like a file.
         // hence the option wrapped in a result here
-        match self.buf.read_until(b'\n', &mut line) {
+        match self.buf.read_until(b'\n', &mut self.line) {
             Ok(0) => None,
-            Ok(_n) => Some(Ok(line)),
+            Ok(_n) => Some(Ok(&self.line)),
             Err(e) => Some(Err(e)),
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/uu/wc/src/wc.rs b/src/uu/wc/src/wc.rs
index d77cd6b4b..68fd23fb4 100644
--- a/src/uu/wc/src/wc.rs
+++ b/src/uu/wc/src/wc.rs
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate uucore;
 
-mod count_bytes;
+mod count_fast;
 mod countable;
 mod word_count;
-use count_bytes::count_bytes_fast;
+use count_fast::{count_bytes_and_lines_fast, count_bytes_fast};
 use countable::WordCountable;
 use word_count::{TitledWordCount, WordCount};
 
@@ -220,19 +220,20 @@ fn word_count_from_reader<T: WordCountable>(
     // we do not need to decode the byte stream if we're only counting bytes/newlines
     let decode_chars = settings.show_chars || settings.show_words || settings.show_max_line_length;
 
+    if !decode_chars {
+        return count_bytes_and_lines_fast(&mut reader);
+    }
+
     // Sum the WordCount for each line. Show a warning for each line
     // that results in an IO error when trying to read it.
-    let total = reader
-        .lines()
-        .filter_map(|res| match res {
-            Ok(line) => Some(line),
-            Err(e) => {
-                show_warning!("Error while reading {}: {}", path, e);
-                None
-            }
-        })
-        .map(|line| WordCount::from_line(&line, decode_chars))
-        .sum();
+    let mut lines = reader.lines();
+    let mut total = WordCount::default();
+    while let Some(res) = lines.next() {
+        match res {
+            Ok(line) => total += WordCount::from_line(line),
+            Err(e) => show_warning!("Error while reading {}: {}", path, e),
+        }
+    }
     Ok(total)
 }
 
diff --git a/src/uu/wc/src/word_count.rs b/src/uu/wc/src/word_count.rs
index bdb510f58..848e64b98 100644
--- a/src/uu/wc/src/word_count.rs
+++ b/src/uu/wc/src/word_count.rs
@@ -74,15 +74,11 @@ impl WordCount {
     /// fields will be set to 0. If it is `true`, this function will
     /// attempt to decode the bytes first as UTF-8, and failing that,
     /// as ASCII.
-    pub fn from_line(line: &[u8], decode_chars: bool) -> WordCount {
+    pub fn from_line(line: &[u8]) -> WordCount {
         // GNU 'wc' only counts lines that end in LF as lines
         let lines = (*line.last().unwrap() == LF) as usize;
         let bytes = line.len();
-        let (words, chars) = if decode_chars {
-            WordCount::word_and_char_count(line)
-        } else {
-            (0, 0)
-        };
+        let (words, chars) = WordCount::word_and_char_count(line);
         // -L is a GNU 'wc' extension so same behavior on LF
         let max_line_length = if chars > 0 { chars - lines } else { 0 };
         WordCount {