diff --git a/Pcap++/header/PcapLiveDevice.h b/Pcap++/header/PcapLiveDevice.h
index d7782ad6b2..b2d570bc1f 100644
--- a/Pcap++/header/PcapLiveDevice.h
+++ b/Pcap++/header/PcapLiveDevice.h
@@ -271,6 +271,22 @@ namespace pcpp
 			Nanoseconds,
 		};
 
+		/// Controls whether libpcap's "immediate mode" is used for packet delivery.
+		/// PcapPlusPlus enables immediate mode by default (where supported) for minimal packet delivery latency.
+		/// On Linux, immediate mode also forces a less efficient capture path (TPACKET_V2 with non-blocking
+		/// polling, instead of TPACKET_V3 with blocking, batched reads), which can hurt throughput and CPU usage
+		/// at high packet rates.
+		enum class BufferingMode
+		{
+			/// Let the device decide, currently equivalent to Immediate. Default value.
+			Default = 0,
+			/// Use immediate mode, trading throughput/CPU for minimal packet delivery latency
+			Immediate,
+			/// Disable immediate mode, trading some added latency (up to packetBufferTimeoutMs, or 100 ms on
+			/// Linux/Windows if not set) for the throughput and CPU benefits described above
+			Buffered
+		};
+
 		/// @struct DeviceConfiguration
 		/// A struct that contains user configurable parameters for opening a device. All parameters have default values
 		/// so the user isn't expected to set all parameters or understand exactly how they work
@@ -318,6 +334,10 @@ namespace pcpp
 			/// Depending on the capture device and the software on the host, different precision can be used
 			TimestampPrecision timestampPrecision;
 
+			/// Controls whether libpcap's immediate mode is used. See BufferingMode for details.
+			/// Default value is BufferingMode::Default.
+			BufferingMode bufferingMode;
+
 			/// A c'tor for this struct
 			/// @param[in] mode The mode to open the device: promiscuous or non-promiscuous. Default value is
 			/// promiscuous
@@ -338,11 +358,14 @@ namespace pcpp
 			/// for each packet (not all platforms support this). Default provider is Host.
 			/// @param[in] timestampPrecision The timestamp precision (not all platforms support this).
 			/// Default precision is Microseconds.
+			/// @param[in] bufferingMode Controls whether libpcap's immediate mode is used. See BufferingMode for
+			/// details. Default value is BufferingMode::Default.
 			explicit DeviceConfiguration(DeviceMode mode = Promiscuous, int packetBufferTimeoutMs = 0,
 			                             int packetBufferSize = 0, PcapDirection direction = PCPP_INOUT,
 			                             int snapshotLength = 0, unsigned int nflogGroup = 0, bool usePoll = false,
 			                             TimestampProvider timestampProvider = TimestampProvider::Host,
-			                             TimestampPrecision timestampPrecision = TimestampPrecision::Microseconds)
+			                             TimestampPrecision timestampPrecision = TimestampPrecision::Microseconds,
+			                             BufferingMode bufferingMode = BufferingMode::Default)
 			{
 				this->mode = mode;
 				this->packetBufferTimeoutMs = packetBufferTimeoutMs;
@@ -353,6 +376,7 @@ namespace pcpp
 				this->usePoll = usePoll;
 				this->timestampProvider = timestampProvider;
 				this->timestampPrecision = timestampPrecision;
+				this->bufferingMode = bufferingMode;
 			}
 		};
 
diff --git a/Pcap++/src/PcapLiveDevice.cpp b/Pcap++/src/PcapLiveDevice.cpp
index deeb4c25e5..4e3e42d9eb 100644
--- a/Pcap++/src/PcapLiveDevice.cpp
+++ b/Pcap++/src/PcapLiveDevice.cpp
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@
 #	define LIBPCAP_OPEN_LIVE_TIMEOUT -1
 #endif
 
+// Fallback used on Linux/Windows (where LIBPCAP_OPEN_LIVE_TIMEOUT is -1) when immediate mode is disabled and
+// packetBufferTimeoutMs isn't set, since libpcap's timeout behavior is unpredictable without immediate mode
+static const int NON_IMMEDIATE_MODE_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 100;
+
 static const char* NFLOG_IFACE = "nflog";
 static const int DEFAULT_SNAPLEN = 9000;
 
@@ -660,7 +664,16 @@ namespace pcpp
 			throw std::runtime_error("Cannot set promiscuous mode, error was: " + std::string(pcap.getLastError()));
 		}
 
-		int timeout = (config.packetBufferTimeoutMs <= 0 ? LIBPCAP_OPEN_LIVE_TIMEOUT : config.packetBufferTimeoutMs);
+		bool useBufferedMode = config.bufferingMode == BufferingMode::Buffered;
+
+		int timeout = config.packetBufferTimeoutMs;
+		if (timeout <= 0)
+		{
+			// FreeBSD/macOS already have a positive LIBPCAP_OPEN_LIVE_TIMEOUT for the pcap_breakloop() workaround
+			bool useNonImmediateModeDefault = useBufferedMode && LIBPCAP_OPEN_LIVE_TIMEOUT <= 0;
+			// cppcheck-suppress knownConditionTrueFalse
+			timeout = useNonImmediateModeDefault ? NON_IMMEDIATE_MODE_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT : LIBPCAP_OPEN_LIVE_TIMEOUT;
+		}
 		ret = pcap_set_timeout(pcap.get(), timeout);
 		if (ret != 0)
 		{
@@ -677,10 +690,13 @@ namespace pcpp
 		}
 
 #ifdef HAS_PCAP_IMMEDIATE_MODE
-		ret = pcap_set_immediate_mode(pcap.get(), 1);
-		if (ret != 0)
+		if (!useBufferedMode)
 		{
-			throw std::runtime_error("Cannot set immediate mode, error was: " + std::string(pcap.getLastError()));
+			ret = pcap_set_immediate_mode(pcap.get(), 1);
+			if (ret != 0)
+			{
+				throw std::runtime_error("Cannot set immediate mode, error was: " + std::string(pcap.getLastError()));
+			}
 		}
 #endif
 
diff --git a/Tests/Pcap++Test/Tests/LiveDeviceTests.cpp b/Tests/Pcap++Test/Tests/LiveDeviceTests.cpp
index 0c2300f66f..fe4800ed0f 100644
--- a/Tests/Pcap++Test/Tests/LiveDeviceTests.cpp
+++ b/Tests/Pcap++Test/Tests/LiveDeviceTests.cpp
@@ -510,6 +510,9 @@ PTF_TEST_CASE(TestPcapLiveDeviceBlockingMode)
 	configs[1].usePoll = true;
 #	endif
 
+	configs.emplace_back();  // disables immediate mode so libpcap can use TPACKET_V3 batching on Linux
+	configs.back().bufferingMode = pcpp::PcapLiveDevice::BufferingMode::Buffered;
+
 	// test the common behaviour for all configs
 	for (const auto& config : configs)
 	{