diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/watch.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/watch.go
index 818d94ae4c8..c155b925f78 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/watch.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/watch.go
@@ -19,10 +19,13 @@ package handlers
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"reflect"
 	"time"
 
+	"golang.org/x/net/websocket"
+
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
@@ -32,8 +35,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/negotiation"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/metrics"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/wsstream"
-
-	"golang.org/x/net/websocket"
 )
 
 // nothing will ever be sent down this channel
@@ -187,7 +188,17 @@ func (s *WatchServer) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		s.Scope.err(errors.NewBadRequest(err.Error()), w, req)
 		return
 	}
-	e := streaming.NewEncoder(framer, s.Encoder)
+
+	var e streaming.Encoder
+	var memoryAllocator runtime.MemoryAllocator
+
+	if encoder, supportsAllocator := s.Encoder.(runtime.EncoderWithAllocator); supportsAllocator {
+		memoryAllocator = runtime.AllocatorPool.Get().(*runtime.Allocator)
+		defer runtime.AllocatorPool.Put(memoryAllocator)
+		e = streaming.NewEncoderWithAllocator(framer, encoder, memoryAllocator)
+	} else {
+		e = streaming.NewEncoder(framer, s.Encoder)
+	}
 
 	// ensure the connection times out
 	timeoutCh, cleanup := s.TimeoutFactory.TimeoutCh()
@@ -206,6 +217,19 @@ func (s *WatchServer) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	ch := s.Watching.ResultChan()
 	done := req.Context().Done()
 
+	embeddedEncodeFn := s.EmbeddedEncoder.Encode
+	if encoder, supportsAllocator := s.EmbeddedEncoder.(runtime.EncoderWithAllocator); supportsAllocator {
+		if memoryAllocator == nil {
+			// don't put the allocator inside the embeddedEncodeFn as that would allocate memory on every call.
+			// instead, we allocate the buffer for the entire watch session and release it when we close the connection.
+			memoryAllocator = runtime.AllocatorPool.Get().(*runtime.Allocator)
+			defer runtime.AllocatorPool.Put(memoryAllocator)
+		}
+		embeddedEncodeFn = func(obj runtime.Object, w io.Writer) error {
+			return encoder.EncodeWithAllocator(obj, w, memoryAllocator)
+		}
+	}
+
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-done:
@@ -220,7 +244,7 @@ func (s *WatchServer) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 			metrics.WatchEvents.WithContext(req.Context()).WithLabelValues(kind.Group, kind.Version, kind.Kind).Inc()
 
 			obj := s.Fixup(event.Object)
-			if err := s.EmbeddedEncoder.Encode(obj, buf); err != nil {
+			if err := embeddedEncodeFn(obj, buf); err != nil {
 				// unexpected error
 				utilruntime.HandleError(fmt.Errorf("unable to encode watch object %T: %v", obj, err))
 				return