diff --git a/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/dispatcher.py b/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/dispatcher.py
index 2b2574829306..372d8e84e563 100644
--- a/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/dispatcher.py
+++ b/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub_v1/subscriber/_protocol/dispatcher.py
@@ -13,9 +13,12 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import
+from __future__ import division
 
 import collections
+import itertools
 import logging
+import math
 import threading
 
 from google.cloud.pubsub_v1 import types
@@ -34,6 +37,18 @@
 """The maximum amount of time in seconds to wait for additional request items
 before processing the next batch of requests."""
 
+_ACK_IDS_BATCH_SIZE = 3000
+"""The maximum number of ACK IDs to send in a single StreamingPullRequest.
+
+The backend imposes a maximum request size limit of 524288 bytes (512 KiB) per
+acknowledge / modifyAckDeadline request. ACK IDs have a maximum size of 164
+bytes, thus we cannot send more than o 524288/164 ~= 3197 ACK IDs in a single
+StreamingPullRequest message.
+
+Accounting for some overhead, we should thus only send a maximum of 3000 ACK
+IDs at a time.
+"""
+
 
 class Dispatcher(object):
     def __init__(self, manager, queue):
@@ -119,9 +134,16 @@ def ack(self, items):
             if time_to_ack is not None:
                 self._manager.ack_histogram.add(time_to_ack)
 
-        ack_ids = [item.ack_id for item in items]
-        request = types.StreamingPullRequest(ack_ids=ack_ids)
-        self._manager.send(request)
+        # We must potentially split the request into multiple smaller requests
+        # to avoid the server-side max request size limit.
+        ack_ids = (item.ack_id for item in items)
+        total_chunks = int(math.ceil(len(items) / _ACK_IDS_BATCH_SIZE))
+
+        for _ in range(total_chunks):
+            request = types.StreamingPullRequest(
+                ack_ids=itertools.islice(ack_ids, _ACK_IDS_BATCH_SIZE)
+            )
+            self._manager.send(request)
 
         # Remove the message from lease management.
         self.drop(items)
@@ -150,13 +172,18 @@ def modify_ack_deadline(self, items):
         Args:
             items(Sequence[ModAckRequest]): The items to modify.
         """
-        ack_ids = [item.ack_id for item in items]
-        seconds = [item.seconds for item in items]
-
-        request = types.StreamingPullRequest(
-            modify_deadline_ack_ids=ack_ids, modify_deadline_seconds=seconds
-        )
-        self._manager.send(request)
+        # We must potentially split the request into multiple smaller requests
+        # to avoid the server-side max request size limit.
+        ack_ids = (item.ack_id for item in items)
+        seconds = (item.seconds for item in items)
+        total_chunks = int(math.ceil(len(items) / _ACK_IDS_BATCH_SIZE))
+
+        for _ in range(total_chunks):
+            request = types.StreamingPullRequest(
+                modify_deadline_ack_ids=itertools.islice(ack_ids, _ACK_IDS_BATCH_SIZE),
+                modify_deadline_seconds=itertools.islice(seconds, _ACK_IDS_BATCH_SIZE),
+            )
+            self._manager.send(request)
 
     def nack(self, items):
         """Explicitly deny receipt of messages.
diff --git a/pubsub/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_dispatcher.py b/pubsub/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_dispatcher.py
index 0e1e9744f6d9..33f1de16499a 100644
--- a/pubsub/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_dispatcher.py
+++ b/pubsub/tests/unit/pubsub_v1/subscriber/test_dispatcher.py
@@ -95,6 +95,33 @@ def test_ack_no_time():
     manager.ack_histogram.add.assert_not_called()
 
 
+def test_ack_splitting_large_payload():
+    manager = mock.create_autospec(
+        streaming_pull_manager.StreamingPullManager, instance=True
+    )
+    dispatcher_ = dispatcher.Dispatcher(manager, mock.sentinel.queue)
+
+    items = [
+        # use realistic lengths for ACK IDs (max 164 bytes)
+        requests.AckRequest(ack_id=str(i).zfill(164), byte_size=0, time_to_ack=20)
+        for i in range(6001)
+    ]
+    dispatcher_.ack(items)
+
+    calls = manager.send.call_args_list
+    assert len(calls) == 3
+
+    all_ack_ids = {item.ack_id for item in items}
+    sent_ack_ids = set()
+
+    for call in calls:
+        message = call.args[0]
+        assert message.ByteSize() <= 524288  # server-side limit (2**19)
+        sent_ack_ids.update(message.ack_ids)
+
+    assert sent_ack_ids == all_ack_ids  # all messages should have been ACK-ed
+
+
 def test_lease():
     manager = mock.create_autospec(
         streaming_pull_manager.StreamingPullManager, instance=True
@@ -153,6 +180,33 @@ def test_modify_ack_deadline():
     )
 
 
+def test_modify_ack_deadline_splitting_large_payload():
+    manager = mock.create_autospec(
+        streaming_pull_manager.StreamingPullManager, instance=True
+    )
+    dispatcher_ = dispatcher.Dispatcher(manager, mock.sentinel.queue)
+
+    items = [
+        # use realistic lengths for ACK IDs (max 164 bytes)
+        requests.ModAckRequest(ack_id=str(i).zfill(164), seconds=60)
+        for i in range(6001)
+    ]
+    dispatcher_.modify_ack_deadline(items)
+
+    calls = manager.send.call_args_list
+    assert len(calls) == 3
+
+    all_ack_ids = {item.ack_id for item in items}
+    sent_ack_ids = set()
+
+    for call in calls:
+        message = call.args[0]
+        assert message.ByteSize() <= 524288  # server-side limit (2**19)
+        sent_ack_ids.update(message.modify_deadline_ack_ids)
+
+    assert sent_ack_ids == all_ack_ids  # all messages should have been ACK-ed
+
+
 @mock.patch("threading.Thread", autospec=True)
 def test_start(thread):
     manager = mock.create_autospec(