diff --git a/ts3-client/core/src/main/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStore.java b/ts3-client/core/src/main/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStore.java
index ec8ddb8..13e0f63 100644
--- a/ts3-client/core/src/main/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStore.java
+++ b/ts3-client/core/src/main/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStore.java
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import com.ts3client.text.TsLink;
 
 import java.io.BufferedWriter;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.channels.SeekableByteChannel;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -28,6 +30,11 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
  */
 public final class ChatLogStore {
     public static final int HISTORY_LIMIT = 1000;
+    /**
+     * How much of the end of a log history is read from: far more than {@link #HISTORY_LIMIT}
+     * entries take, without reading years of log on every connect.
+     */
+    private static final int HISTORY_TAIL_BYTES = 4 << 20;
 
     private static final DateTimeFormatter BEGIN = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
     private static final DateTimeFormatter TIME = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("HH:mm:ss");
@@ -57,15 +64,17 @@ public final class ChatLogStore {
     }
 
     public List<String> serverHtmlHistory() throws IOException {
-        return last(readHtml(log(ChatLogScope.SERVER)), HISTORY_LIMIT);
+        return last(readHtml(log(ChatLogScope.SERVER), HISTORY_TAIL_BYTES), HISTORY_LIMIT);
     }
 
     public List<String> channelHtmlHistory() throws IOException {
-        return last(readTextMessages(log(ChatLogScope.CHANNEL), ChatLogScope.CHANNEL), HISTORY_LIMIT);
+        return last(readTextMessages(log(ChatLogScope.CHANNEL), ChatLogScope.CHANNEL, HISTORY_TAIL_BYTES),
+                HISTORY_LIMIT);
     }
 
     public List<String> privateHtmlHistory(String clientUniqueId) throws IOException {
-        return last(readTextMessages(privateLog(clientUniqueId), ChatLogScope.PRIVATE), HISTORY_LIMIT);
+        return last(readTextMessages(privateLog(clientUniqueId), ChatLogScope.PRIVATE, HISTORY_TAIL_BYTES),
+                HISTORY_LIMIT);
     }
 
     /** Entries of a whole log that match a query, in the order they were written. */
@@ -84,8 +93,9 @@ public final class ChatLogStore {
     public SearchResult search(ChatLogScope scope, String clientUniqueId, TextQuery query, int limit)
             throws IOException {
         List<String> all = scope == ChatLogScope.SERVER
-                ? readHtml(log(scope))
-                : readTextMessages(scope == ChatLogScope.PRIVATE ? privateLog(clientUniqueId) : log(scope), scope);
+                ? readHtml(log(scope), Long.MAX_VALUE)
+                : readTextMessages(scope == ChatLogScope.PRIVATE ? privateLog(clientUniqueId) : log(scope), scope,
+                Long.MAX_VALUE);
         List<String> hits = new ArrayList<>();
         for (String entry : all) {
             if (query.matches(HtmlText.plain(entry))) hits.add(entry);
@@ -166,10 +176,11 @@ public final class ChatLogStore {
         if (!Files.exists(files.txt)) Files.createFile(files.txt);
     }
 
-    private static List<String> readHtml(LogFiles files) throws IOException {
+    /** @param tailBytes how much of the end of the log to read */
+    private static List<String> readHtml(LogFiles files, long tailBytes) throws IOException {
         if (!Files.isRegularFile(files.html)) return Collections.emptyList();
         List<String> entries = new ArrayList<>();
-        for (String line : Files.readAllLines(files.html, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) {
+        for (String line : readLines(files.html, tailBytes)) {
             if (line.startsWith("<p ")) entries.add(line);
         }
         return entries;
@@ -179,12 +190,13 @@ public final class ChatLogStore {
      * A message is written as it was sent, so one with line breaks spans several lines of the
      * log: a line that starts no entry of its own continues the message before it.
      */
-    private static List<String> readTextMessages(LogFiles files, ChatLogScope scope) throws IOException {
+    private static List<String> readTextMessages(LogFiles files, ChatLogScope scope, long tailBytes)
+            throws IOException {
         if (!Files.isRegularFile(files.txt)) return Collections.emptyList();
         List<String> entries = new ArrayList<>();
         Matcher message = null;
         StringBuilder text = new StringBuilder();
-        for (String line : Files.readAllLines(files.txt, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) {
+        for (String line : readLines(files.txt, tailBytes)) {
             Matcher m = TEXT_MESSAGE.matcher(line);
             boolean begin = line.startsWith("*** ");
             if (!m.matches() && !begin) {
@@ -205,6 +217,22 @@ public final class ChatLogStore {
         return entries;
     }
 
+    /** The lines in the last {@code tailBytes} of a file, less the one that was cut into. */
+    private static List<String> readLines(Path file, long tailBytes) throws IOException {
+        try (SeekableByteChannel channel = Files.newByteChannel(file)) {
+            long size = channel.size();
+            if (size <= tailBytes) return Files.readAllLines(file, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+            ByteBuffer tail = ByteBuffer.allocate((int) tailBytes);
+            channel.position(size - tailBytes);
+            int read = 0;
+            while (tail.hasRemaining() && read >= 0) read = channel.read(tail);
+            String text = new String(tail.array(), 0, tail.position(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+            List<String> lines = new ArrayList<>(List.of(text.split("\r?\n", -1)));
+            lines.remove(0);
+            return lines;
+        }
+    }
+
     private static List<String> last(List<String> entries, int limit) {
         if (entries.size() <= limit) return entries;
         return new ArrayList<>(entries.subList(entries.size() - limit, entries.size()));
diff --git a/ts3-client/core/src/test/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStoreTest.java b/ts3-client/core/src/test/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStoreTest.java
index 260b22b..2942b34 100644
--- a/ts3-client/core/src/test/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStoreTest.java
+++ b/ts3-client/core/src/test/java/com/ts3client/chatlog/ChatLogStoreTest.java
@@ -80,4 +80,20 @@ class ChatLogStoreTest {
         assertTrue(history.get(0).contains("first line<br><br>third line"), history.get(0));
         assertTrue(history.get(1).contains("reply"));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void historyComesFromTheEndOfALongLog() throws Exception {
+        ChatLogStore logs = new ChatLogStore(temp, "+Tyg2JtxE8vRNZp+JiUBnmBh0MY=");
+        logs.appendMessage(ChatLogScope.CHANNEL, false, 5, "uid", "alice", "start");
+        Path txt = logs.serverDir().resolve("channel.txt");
+        StringBuilder filler = new StringBuilder();
+        for (int i = 0; i < 200_000; i++) filler.append("<12:00:00> alice: žluťoučký kůň ").append(i).append('\n');
+        Files.writeString(txt, filler, java.nio.file.StandardOpenOption.APPEND);
+        logs.appendMessage(ChatLogScope.CHANNEL, false, 5, "uid", "bob", "the latest");
+
+        List<String> history = logs.channelHtmlHistory();
+        assertEquals(ChatLogStore.HISTORY_LIMIT, history.size());
+        assertTrue(history.get(history.size() - 1).contains("the latest"));
+        assertTrue(history.get(0).contains("žluťoučký kůň"), history.get(0));
+    }
 }