The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for managing network response buffering behavior. A computer system receives a request for content from a client. The computer system has a default response buffering behavior used when transferring content. The computer system maps the request to a handler configured to serve the requested content. The computer system accesses buffering behavior data for the handler. The computer system determines that the requested content is to be transferred in accordance with altered response buffering behavior based at least on the buffering behavior data. The altered response buffering behavior corresponds to the requested content as an exception to the default response buffering. The computer system accesses a portion of the requested content from the handler. The computer system transfers the portion of requested content to the client in accordance with the altered response buffer behavior.