diff --git a/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/BigWigAdapter.ts b/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/BigWigAdapter.ts
index 307f400144..59a6b3f389 100644
--- a/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/BigWigAdapter.ts
+++ b/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/BigWigAdapter.ts
@@ -78,10 +78,11 @@ export default class BigWigAdapter extends BaseFeatureDataAdapter {
     return ObservableCreate<Feature>(async observer => {
       statusCallback('Downloading bigwig data')
       const source = this.getConf('source')
+      const resolutionMultiplier = this.getConf('resolutionMultiplier')
       const { bigwig } = await this.setup(opts)
       const feats = await bigwig.getFeatures(refName, start, end, {
         ...opts,
-        basesPerSpan: bpPerPx / resolution,
+        basesPerSpan: (bpPerPx / resolution) * resolutionMultiplier,
       })
 
       for (const data of feats) {
diff --git a/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/configSchema.ts b/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/configSchema.ts
index 7e85296ecf..06c738d848 100644
--- a/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/configSchema.ts
+++ b/plugins/wiggle/src/BigWigAdapter/configSchema.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ const BigWigAdapter = ConfigurationSchema(
       defaultValue: '',
       description: 'Used for multiwiggle',
     },
+
+    resolutionMultiplier: {
+      type: 'number',
+      defaultValue: 1,
+      description: 'Initial resolution multiplier',
+    },
   },
   { explicitlyTyped: true },
 )
diff --git a/test_data/config_demo.json b/test_data/config_demo.json
index a3e3b1deff..a671c9aa1b 100644
--- a/test_data/config_demo.json
+++ b/test_data/config_demo.json
@@ -901,6 +901,7 @@
       "category": ["SKBR3"],
       "adapter": {
         "type": "BigWigAdapter",
+        "resolutionMultiplier": 10,
         "bigWigLocation": {
           "uri": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/jbrowse.org/genomes/hg19/reads_lr_skbr3.fa_ngmlr-0.2.3_mapped.bam.regions.bw",
           "locationType": "UriLocation"