diff --git a/zio/jsonio/reader.go b/zio/jsonio/reader.go
index 24c6d65e52..5754cb665d 100644
--- a/zio/jsonio/reader.go
+++ b/zio/jsonio/reader.go
@@ -3,70 +3,44 @@ package jsonio
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
-	"errors"
-	"fmt"
 	"io"
 
 	"github.com/brimdata/zed/zng"
 	"github.com/brimdata/zed/zson"
 )
 
-const MaxReadBuffer = 25 * 1024 * 1024
-
 type Reader struct {
 	zctx    *zson.Context
-	reader  io.Reader
-	objects []interface{}
+	decoder *json.Decoder
 }
 
 func NewReader(r io.Reader, zctx *zson.Context) (*Reader, error) {
+	d := json.NewDecoder(r)
+	// Prime d's buffer so we can check for an array.
+	d.More()
+	var b [1]byte
+	if n, _ := d.Buffered().Read(b[:]); n > 0 && b[0] == '[' {
+		// We have an array.  Discard its opening "[" delimiter.
+		d.Token()
+	}
 	return &Reader{
-		zctx:   zctx,
-		reader: r,
+		zctx:    zctx,
+		decoder: d,
 	}, nil
 }
 
 func (r *Reader) Read() (*zng.Record, error) {
-	if r.objects == nil {
-		b, err := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(r.reader, MaxReadBuffer))
-		if err != nil {
-			if err == io.EOF {
-				err = nil
-			}
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		if len(b) == MaxReadBuffer {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("JSON input buffer size exceeded: %d", MaxReadBuffer)
-		}
-		var v interface{}
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &v); err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		if object, ok := v.(map[string]interface{}); ok {
-			r.objects = make([]interface{}, 0)
-			return r.parse(object)
-		}
-		a, ok := v.([]interface{})
-		if !ok {
-			return nil, errors.New("JSON input is neither an object or array")
-		}
-		r.objects = a
-	}
-	if len(r.objects) == 0 {
+	if !r.decoder.More() {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
-	object := r.objects[0]
-	r.objects = r.objects[1:]
-	return r.parse(object)
-}
-
-func (r *Reader) parse(v interface{}) (*zng.Record, error) {
-	object, ok := v.(map[string]interface{})
-	if !ok {
-		object = make(map[string]interface{})
-		object["value"] = v
+	var v interface{}
+	if err := r.decoder.Decode(&v); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if _, ok := v.(map[string]interface{}); !ok {
+		v = map[string]interface{}{"value": v}
 	}
-	b, err := json.Marshal(object)
+	b, err := json.Marshal(v)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}