diff --git a/py/objstringio.c b/py/objstringio.c
index 9f4adeebb..645c441cb 100644
--- a/py/objstringio.c
+++ b/py/objstringio.c
@@ -68,10 +68,23 @@ STATIC mp_uint_t stringio_read(mp_obj_t o_in, void *buf, mp_uint_t size, int *er
     return size;
 }
 
+STATIC void stringio_copy_on_write(mp_obj_stringio_t *o) {
+    const void *buf = o->vstr->buf;
+    o->vstr->buf = m_new(char, o->vstr->len);
+    memcpy(o->vstr->buf, buf, o->vstr->len);
+    o->vstr->fixed_buf = false;
+    o->ref_obj = MP_OBJ_NULL;
+}
+
 STATIC mp_uint_t stringio_write(mp_obj_t o_in, const void *buf, mp_uint_t size, int *errcode) {
     (void)errcode;
     mp_obj_stringio_t *o = MP_OBJ_TO_PTR(o_in);
     check_stringio_is_open(o);
+
+    if (o->vstr->fixed_buf) {
+        stringio_copy_on_write(o);
+    }
+
     mp_uint_t new_pos = o->pos + size;
     if (new_pos < size) {
         // Writing <size> bytes will overflow o->pos beyond limit of mp_uint_t.
@@ -155,11 +168,11 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t stringio___exit__(size_t n_args, const mp_obj_t *args) {
 }
 STATIC MP_DEFINE_CONST_FUN_OBJ_VAR_BETWEEN(stringio___exit___obj, 4, 4, stringio___exit__);
 
-STATIC mp_obj_stringio_t *stringio_new(const mp_obj_type_t *type, mp_uint_t alloc) {
+STATIC mp_obj_stringio_t *stringio_new(const mp_obj_type_t *type) {
     mp_obj_stringio_t *o = m_new_obj(mp_obj_stringio_t);
     o->base.type = type;
-    o->vstr = vstr_new(alloc);
     o->pos = 0;
+    o->ref_obj = MP_OBJ_NULL;
     return o;
 }
 
@@ -170,17 +183,28 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t stringio_make_new(const mp_obj_type_t *type_in, size_t n_args, s
     bool initdata = false;
     mp_buffer_info_t bufinfo;
 
+    mp_obj_stringio_t *o = stringio_new(type_in);
+
     if (n_args > 0) {
         if (MP_OBJ_IS_INT(args[0])) {
             sz = mp_obj_get_int(args[0]);
         } else {
             mp_get_buffer_raise(args[0], &bufinfo, MP_BUFFER_READ);
+
+            if (MP_OBJ_IS_STR_OR_BYTES(args[0])) {
+                o->vstr = m_new_obj(vstr_t);
+                vstr_init_fixed_buf(o->vstr, bufinfo.len, bufinfo.buf);
+                o->vstr->len = bufinfo.len;
+                o->ref_obj = args[0];
+                return MP_OBJ_FROM_PTR(o);
+            }
+
             sz = bufinfo.len;
             initdata = true;
         }
     }
 
-    mp_obj_stringio_t *o = stringio_new(type_in, sz);
+    o->vstr = vstr_new(sz);
 
     if (initdata) {
         stringio_write(MP_OBJ_FROM_PTR(o), bufinfo.buf, bufinfo.len, NULL);
diff --git a/py/objstringio.h b/py/objstringio.h
index 853bfb11b..56738f4e4 100644
--- a/py/objstringio.h
+++ b/py/objstringio.h
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ typedef struct _mp_obj_stringio_t {
     vstr_t *vstr;
     // StringIO has single pointer used for both reading and writing
     mp_uint_t pos;
+    // Underlying object buffered by this StringIO
+    mp_obj_t ref_obj;
 } mp_obj_stringio_t;
 
 #endif // MICROPY_INCLUDED_PY_OBJSTRINGIO_H
diff --git a/tests/io/bytesio_cow.py b/tests/io/bytesio_cow.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..92654a000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/io/bytesio_cow.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Make sure that write operations on io.BytesIO don't
+# change original object it was constructed from.
+try:
+    import uio as io
+except ImportError:
+    import io
+
+b = b"foobar"
+
+a = io.BytesIO(b)
+a.write(b"1")
+print(b)
+print(a.getvalue())
+
+b = bytearray(b"foobar")
+
+a = io.BytesIO(b)
+a.write(b"1")
+print(b)
+print(a.getvalue())
diff --git a/tests/micropython/heapalloc_bytesio2.py b/tests/micropython/heapalloc_bytesio2.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cd76f5807
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/micropython/heapalloc_bytesio2.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Creating BytesIO from immutable object should not immediately
+# copy its content.
+try:
+    import uio
+    import micropython
+    micropython.mem_total
+except (ImportError, AttributeError):
+    print("SKIP")
+    raise SystemExit
+
+
+data = b"1234" * 256
+
+before = micropython.mem_total()
+
+buf = uio.BytesIO(data)
+
+after = micropython.mem_total()
+
+print(after - before < len(data))
diff --git a/tests/micropython/heapalloc_bytesio2.py.exp b/tests/micropython/heapalloc_bytesio2.py.exp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ca95142b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/micropython/heapalloc_bytesio2.py.exp
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+True