diff --git a/TF_Config.example.h b/TF_Config.example.h
index 099d026..af59aa6 100644
--- a/TF_Config.example.h
+++ b/TF_Config.example.h
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@
 // If the connection is reliable, you can disable the SOF byte and checksums.
 // That can save up to 9 bytes of overhead.
 
-// ,-----+-----+-----+------+------------+- - - -+-------------,                
-// | SOF | ID  | LEN | TYPE | HEAD_CKSUM | DATA  | DATA_CKSUM  |                
+// ,-----+-----+-----+------+------------+- - - -+-------------,
+// | SOF | ID  | LEN | TYPE | HEAD_CKSUM | DATA  | DATA_CKSUM  |
 // | 0-1 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-4  | 0-4        | ...   | 0-4         | <- size (bytes)
-// '-----+-----+-----+------+------------+- - - -+-------------'                
+// '-----+-----+-----+------+------------+- - - -+-------------'
 
 // !!! BOTH PEERS MUST USE THE SAME SETTINGS !!!
 
@@ -40,6 +40,14 @@
 // Value of the SOF byte (if TF_USE_SOF_BYTE == 1)
 #define TF_SOF_BYTE     0x01
 
+// SOF *always* marks start of frame, if it appears elsewhere it will be escaped
+// a SOF byte appearing mid-message resets parsing and drops the unprocessed half.
+// When enabled, only 1 byte at a time is sent to TF_WriteImpl. This will incur
+// a performance penalty if you expect to send large chunks with DMA
+#define TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE 1
+// if this byte is seen and TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE == 1, the next byte is treated literally
+#define TF_ESCAPE_BYTE 0x02
+
 //----------------------- PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY ----------------------------
 
 // used for timeout tick counters - should be large enough for all used timeouts
diff --git a/TinyFrame.c b/TinyFrame.c
index 16baf38..980d511 100644
--- a/TinyFrame.c
+++ b/TinyFrame.c
@@ -207,6 +207,27 @@
 
 //endregion
 
+//region escaping
+
+#if TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE
+    static void _TF_FN TF_WriteEscaped(TinyFrame *tf, const uint8_t *buff, uint32_t len) {
+        for(uint32_t i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+            uint8_t c = buff[i];
+            if(c == TF_SOF_BYTE || c == TF_ESCAPE_BYTE) {
+                // invert the bits so we don't Tx a SOF byte
+                c ^= 0xff;
+                // send the escape char
+                TF_WriteImpl(tf, (uint8_t[]){TF_ESCAPE_BYTE}, 1);
+            }
+            // send the byte itself
+            TF_WriteImpl(tf, &c, sizeof(c));
+        }
+    }
+#else
+    #define TF_WriteEscaped TF_WriteImpl
+#endif
+
+//endregion
 
 //region Init
 
@@ -601,6 +622,26 @@ void _TF_FN TF_AcceptChar(TinyFrame *tf, unsigned char c)
     }
 #endif
 
+#if TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE
+    // only SOF/escape bytes can be escaped - anything else is treated normally
+    if(tf->escape_next && (c == (TF_SOF_BYTE ^ 0xff) || c == (TF_ESCAPE_BYTE ^ 0xff))) {
+        // restore the inverted byte
+        c ^= 0xFF;
+    } else {
+        if(c == TF_ESCAPE_BYTE) {
+            tf->escape_next = true;
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if(c == TF_SOF_BYTE && tf->state != TFState_SOF) {
+            TF_ResetParser(tf);
+            TF_Error("Msg truncated");
+        }
+    }
+
+    tf->escape_next = false;
+#endif
+
     //@formatter:off
     switch (tf->state) {
         case TFState_SOF:
@@ -796,7 +837,14 @@ static inline uint32_t _TF_FN TF_ComposeHead(TinyFrame *tf, uint8_t *outbuff, TF
     CKSUM_RESET(cksum);
 
 #if TF_USE_SOF_BYTE
+#if TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE
+    // write the raw SOF byte without escaping
+    TF_WriteImpl(tf, (uint8_t[]){TF_SOF_BYTE}, 1);
+#else
+    // add it to the buffer as normal
     outbuff[pos++] = TF_SOF_BYTE;
+#endif
+    // add it to the checksum regardless
     CKSUM_ADD(cksum, TF_SOF_BYTE);
 #endif
 
@@ -910,7 +958,7 @@ static void _TF_FN TF_SendFrame_Chunk(TinyFrame *tf, const uint8_t *buff, uint32
 
         // Flush if the buffer is full
         if (tf->tx_pos == TF_SENDBUF_LEN) {
-            TF_WriteImpl(tf, (const uint8_t *) tf->sendbuf, tf->tx_pos);
+            TF_WriteEscaped(tf, (const uint8_t *) tf->sendbuf, tf->tx_pos);
             tf->tx_pos = 0;
         }
     }
@@ -927,7 +975,7 @@ static void _TF_FN TF_SendFrame_End(TinyFrame *tf)
     if (tf->tx_len > 0) {
         // Flush if checksum wouldn't fit in the buffer
         if (TF_SENDBUF_LEN - tf->tx_pos < sizeof(TF_CKSUM)) {
-            TF_WriteImpl(tf, (const uint8_t *) tf->sendbuf, tf->tx_pos);
+            TF_WriteEscaped(tf, (const uint8_t *) tf->sendbuf, tf->tx_pos);
             tf->tx_pos = 0;
         }
 
@@ -935,7 +983,7 @@ static void _TF_FN TF_SendFrame_End(TinyFrame *tf)
         tf->tx_pos += TF_ComposeTail(tf->sendbuf + tf->tx_pos, &tf->tx_cksum);
     }
 
-    TF_WriteImpl(tf, (const uint8_t *) tf->sendbuf, tf->tx_pos);
+    TF_WriteEscaped(tf, (const uint8_t *) tf->sendbuf, tf->tx_pos);
     TF_ReleaseTx(tf);
 }
 
diff --git a/TinyFrame.h b/TinyFrame.h
index 5f6943c..1fe1384 100644
--- a/TinyFrame.h
+++ b/TinyFrame.h
@@ -81,6 +81,18 @@
 
 //endregion
 
+//region Sanity checks
+
+#if TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE && !TF_USE_SOF_BYTE
+    #error TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE enabled but TF_USE_SOF_BYTE disabled
+#endif
+
+#if TF_SOF_BYTE == TF_ESCAPE_BYTE
+    #error SOF byte is identical to escape byte
+#endif
+
+//endregion
+
 //---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 /** Peer bit enum (used for init) */
@@ -446,6 +458,10 @@ struct TinyFrame_ {
     TF_TYPE type;           //!< Collected message type number
     bool discard_data;      //!< Set if (len > TF_MAX_PAYLOAD) to read the frame, but ignore the data.
 
+#if TF_ESCAPE_SOF_BYTE
+    bool escape_next;       //!< Track whether to escape the next character
+#endif
+
     /* Tx state */
     // Buffer for building frames
     uint8_t sendbuf[TF_SENDBUF_LEN]; //!< Transmit temporary buffer