diff --git a/src/protocols/vnc/client.h b/src/protocols/vnc/client.h
index 36f5870e..316d3883 100644
--- a/src/protocols/vnc/client.h
+++ b/src/protocols/vnc/client.h
@@ -38,6 +38,15 @@
  */
 #define GUAC_VNC_FRAME_TIMEOUT 10
 
+/**
+ * The amount of time to wait for a new message from the VNC server when
+ * beginning a new frame. This value must be kept reasonably small such that
+ * a slow VNC server will not prevent external events from being handled (such
+ * as the stop signal from guac_client_stop()), but large enough that the
+ * message handling loop does not eat up CPU spinning.
+ */
+#define GUAC_VNC_FRAME_START_TIMEOUT 1000000
+
 /**
  * The number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
  */
diff --git a/src/protocols/vnc/vnc.c b/src/protocols/vnc/vnc.c
index f192996b..155c9209 100644
--- a/src/protocols/vnc/vnc.c
+++ b/src/protocols/vnc/vnc.c
@@ -341,7 +341,8 @@ void* guac_vnc_client_thread(void* data) {
     while (client->state == GUAC_CLIENT_RUNNING) {
 
         /* Wait for start of frame */
-        int wait_result = guac_vnc_wait_for_messages(rfb_client, 1000000);
+        int wait_result = guac_vnc_wait_for_messages(rfb_client,
+                GUAC_VNC_FRAME_START_TIMEOUT);
         if (wait_result > 0) {
 
             guac_timestamp frame_start = guac_timestamp_current();