diff --git a/examples/ansible.cfg b/examples/ansible.cfg
index 33021d3f5fd..74aef7a0246 100644
--- a/examples/ansible.cfg
+++ b/examples/ansible.cfg
@@ -184,6 +184,11 @@
 # prevents logging of tasks, but only on the targets, data is still logged on the master/controller
 #no_target_syslog = True
 
+# controls the compression level of variables sent to
+# worker processes. At the default of 0, no compression
+# is used. This value must be an integer from 0 to 9.
+#var_compression_level = 9
+
 [privilege_escalation]
 #become=True
 #become_method=sudo
diff --git a/lib/ansible/constants.py b/lib/ansible/constants.py
index 278d567baaa..6ecaaac0b3b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/constants.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/constants.py
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ DEFAULT_GATHERING         = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'gathering', 'ANSIBLE_GATHER
 DEFAULT_LOG_PATH          = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'log_path',           'ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH', '', ispath=True)
 DEFAULT_FORCE_HANDLERS    = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'force_handlers', 'ANSIBLE_FORCE_HANDLERS', False, boolean=True)
 DEFAULT_INVENTORY_IGNORE  = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'inventory_ignore_extensions', 'ANSIBLE_INVENTORY_IGNORE', ["~", ".orig", ".bak", ".ini", ".cfg", ".retry", ".pyc", ".pyo"], islist=True)
+DEFAULT_VAR_COMPRESSION_LEVEL = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'var_compression_level', 'ANSIBLE_VAR_COMPRESSION_LEVEL', 0, integer=True)
 
 # disclosure
 DEFAULT_NO_LOG           = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'no_log', 'ANSIBLE_NO_LOG', False, boolean=True)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py b/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py
index 4754d767908..1cc1f7df438 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import signal
 import sys
 import time
 import traceback
+import zlib
 
 from jinja2.exceptions import TemplateNotFound
 
@@ -100,7 +101,14 @@ class WorkerProcess(multiprocessing.Process):
             task = None
             try:
                 debug("waiting for a message...")
-                (host, task, basedir, job_vars, play_context, shared_loader_obj) = self._main_q.get()
+                (host, task, basedir, zip_vars, hostvars, compressed_vars, play_context, shared_loader_obj) = self._main_q.get()
+
+                if compressed_vars:
+                    job_vars = json.loads(zlib.decompress(zip_vars))
+                else:
+                    job_vars = zip_vars
+                job_vars['hostvars'] = hostvars
+
                 debug("there's work to be done! got a task/handler to work on: %s" % task)
 
                 # because the task queue manager starts workers (forks) before the
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py
index fdbfb707722..7aabf05f093 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/__init__.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import json
 import pickle
 import sys
 import time
+import zlib
 
 from jinja2.exceptions import UndefinedError
 
@@ -152,7 +153,28 @@ class StrategyBase:
             # way to share them with the forked processes
             shared_loader_obj = SharedPluginLoaderObj()
 
-            main_q.put((host, task, self._loader.get_basedir(), task_vars, play_context, shared_loader_obj), block=False)
+            # compress (and convert) the data if so configured, which can
+            # help a lot when the variable dictionary is huge. We pop the
+            # hostvars out of the task variables right now, due to the fact
+            # that they're not JSON serializable
+            compressed_vars = False
+            hostvars = task_vars.pop('hostvars', None)
+            if C.DEFAULT_VAR_COMPRESSION_LEVEL > 0:
+                zip_vars = zlib.compress(json.dumps(task_vars), C.DEFAULT_VAR_COMPRESSION_LEVEL)
+                compressed_vars = True
+                # we're done with the original dict now, so delete it to
+                # try and reclaim some memory space, which is helpful if the
+                # data contained in the dict is very large
+                del task_vars
+            else:
+                zip_vars = task_vars
+
+            # and queue the task
+            main_q.put((host, task, self._loader.get_basedir(), zip_vars, hostvars, compressed_vars, play_context, shared_loader_obj), block=False)
+
+            # nuke the hostvars object too, as its no longer needed
+            del hostvars
+
             self._pending_results += 1
         except (EOFError, IOError, AssertionError) as e:
             # most likely an abort
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py
index 321e5ced177..0b5e0627bd8 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py
@@ -173,6 +173,9 @@ class StrategyModule(StrategyBase):
                     if not task:
                         continue
 
+                    if self._tqm._terminated:
+                        break
+
                     run_once = False
                     work_to_do = True