diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamInputResource.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamInputResource.java
index f25d97bb6..13ecf5dfd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamInputResource.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamInputResource.java
@@ -39,9 +39,11 @@
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.channels.SeekableByteChannel;
 import java.nio.file.FileSystemNotFoundException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.function.Function;
 
 /**
  * Describes a SAM-like resource, including its data (where the records are), and optionally an index.
@@ -89,7 +91,15 @@ public String toString() {
     public static SamInputResource of(final File file) { return new SamInputResource(new FileInputResource(file)); }
 
     /** Creates a {@link SamInputResource} reading from the provided resource, with no index. */
-    public static SamInputResource of(final Path path) { return new SamInputResource(new PathInputResource(path)); }
+    public static SamInputResource of(final Path path) {
+        return new SamInputResource(new PathInputResource(path));
+    }
+
+    /** Creates a {@link SamInputResource} reading from the provided resource, with no index,
+     *  and with a wrapper to apply to the SeekableByteChannel for custom prefetching/buffering. */
+    public static SamInputResource of(final Path path, Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> wrapper) {
+        return new SamInputResource(new PathInputResource(path, wrapper));
+    }
 
     /** Creates a {@link SamInputResource} reading from the provided resource, with no index. */
     public static SamInputResource of(final InputStream inputStream) { return new SamInputResource(new InputStreamInputResource(inputStream)); }
@@ -121,7 +131,7 @@ public SamInputResource index(final File file) {
 
     /** Updates the index to point at the provided resource, then returns itself. */
     public SamInputResource index(final Path path) {
-        this.index = new PathInputResource(path);
+        this.index = new PathInputResource(path, Function.identity());
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -268,11 +278,12 @@ public SRAAccession asSRAAccession() {
 class PathInputResource extends InputResource {
 
     final Path pathResource;
+    final Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> wrapper;
     final Lazy<SeekableStream> lazySeekableStream = new Lazy<SeekableStream>(new Lazy.LazyInitializer<SeekableStream>() {
         @Override
         public SeekableStream make() {
             try {
-                return new SeekablePathStream(pathResource);
+                return new SeekablePathStream(pathResource, wrapper);
             } catch (final IOException e) {
                 throw new RuntimeIOException(e);
             }
@@ -281,8 +292,14 @@ public SeekableStream make() {
 
 
     PathInputResource(final Path pathResource) {
+        this(pathResource, Function.identity());
+    }
+
+    //  wrapper applies to the SeekableByteChannel for custom prefetching/buffering.
+    PathInputResource(final Path pathResource, Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> wrapper) {
         super(Type.PATH);
         this.pathResource = pathResource;
+        this.wrapper = wrapper;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactory.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactory.java
index 8769f4879..4c3035433 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactory.java
@@ -33,9 +33,11 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.channels.SeekableByteChannel;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
+import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
 
 /**
@@ -74,11 +76,13 @@
 public abstract class SamReaderFactory {
 
     private static ValidationStringency defaultValidationStringency = ValidationStringency.DEFAULT_STRINGENCY;
-    
+
+    private Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> pathWrapper = Function.identity();
+
     abstract public SamReader open(final File file);
 
     public SamReader open(final Path path) {
-        final SamInputResource r = SamInputResource.of(path);
+        final SamInputResource r = SamInputResource.of(path, getPathWrapper());
         final Path indexMaybe = SamFiles.findIndex(path);
         if (indexMaybe != null) r.index(indexMaybe);
         return open(r);
@@ -102,6 +106,25 @@ public SamReader open(final Path path) {
     /** Sets a specific Option to a boolean value. * */
     abstract public SamReaderFactory setOption(final Option option, boolean value);
 
+    /** Sets a wrapper to modify the SeekableByteChannel from an opened Path, e.g. to add
+     * buffering or prefetching. This only works on Path inputs since we need a SeekableByteChannel.
+     *
+     * @param wrapper how to modify the SeekableByteChannel (Function.identity to unset)
+     * @return this
+     */
+    public SamReaderFactory setPathWrapper(Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> wrapper) {
+        this.pathWrapper = wrapper;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /** Gets the wrapper previously set via setPathWrapper.
+     *
+     * @return the wrapper.
+     */
+    public Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> getPathWrapper() {
+        return pathWrapper;
+    }
+
     /** Sets the specified reference sequence * */
     abstract public SamReaderFactory referenceSequence(File referenceSequence);
 
@@ -138,8 +161,8 @@ public static SamReaderFactory makeDefault() {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Creates an "empty" factory with no enabled {@link Option}s, {@link ValidationStringency#DEFAULT_STRINGENCY}, and
-     * {@link htsjdk.samtools.DefaultSAMRecordFactory}.
+     * Creates an "empty" factory with no enabled {@link Option}s, {@link ValidationStringency#DEFAULT_STRINGENCY},
+     * no path wrapper, and {@link htsjdk.samtools.DefaultSAMRecordFactory}.
      */
     public static SamReaderFactory make() {
         return new SamReaderFactoryImpl(EnumSet.noneOf(Option.class), ValidationStringency.DEFAULT_STRINGENCY, DefaultSAMRecordFactory.getInstance());
@@ -155,10 +178,15 @@ public static SamReaderFactory make() {
         private CRAMReferenceSource referenceSource;
 
         private SamReaderFactoryImpl(final EnumSet<Option> enabledOptions, final ValidationStringency validationStringency, final SAMRecordFactory samRecordFactory) {
+            this(enabledOptions, validationStringency, samRecordFactory, Function.identity());
+        }
+
+        private SamReaderFactoryImpl(final EnumSet<Option> enabledOptions, final ValidationStringency validationStringency, final SAMRecordFactory samRecordFactory, final Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> wrapper) {
             this.enabledOptions = EnumSet.copyOf(enabledOptions);
             this.samRecordFactory = samRecordFactory;
             this.validationStringency = validationStringency;
             this.customReaderFactory = CustomReaderFactory.getInstance();
+            setPathWrapper(wrapper);
         }
    
         @Override
@@ -273,6 +301,7 @@ public SamReader open(final SamInputResource resource) {
                             // TODO: Throw an exception here?  An index _may_ have been provided, but we're ignoring it
                             bufferedIndexStream = null;
                         }
+
                         primitiveSamReader = new BAMFileReader(
                                 IOUtil.maybeBufferedSeekableStream(data.asUnbufferedSeekableStream()),
                                 bufferedIndexStream,
@@ -388,7 +417,7 @@ private boolean isSra(final File sourceFile) {
         }
 
         public static SamReaderFactory copyOf(final SamReaderFactoryImpl target) {
-            return new SamReaderFactoryImpl(target.enabledOptions, target.validationStringency, target.samRecordFactory);
+            return new SamReaderFactoryImpl(target.enabledOptions, target.validationStringency, target.samRecordFactory, target.getPathWrapper());
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/seekablestream/SeekablePathStream.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/seekablestream/SeekablePathStream.java
index 18a41e7a2..cb88512df 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/seekablestream/SeekablePathStream.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/seekablestream/SeekablePathStream.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.function.Function;
 
 /**
  * An implementation of {@link SeekableStream} for {@link Path}.
@@ -29,8 +30,16 @@
     private final ByteBuffer oneByteBuf = ByteBuffer.allocate(1);
 
     public SeekablePathStream(final Path path) throws IOException {
+        this(path, null);
+    }
+
+    public SeekablePathStream(final Path path, Function<SeekableByteChannel, SeekableByteChannel> wrapper) throws IOException {
         this.path = path;
-        this.sbc = Files.newByteChannel(path);
+        if (null==wrapper) {
+            this.sbc = Files.newByteChannel(path);
+        } else {
+            this.sbc = wrapper.apply(Files.newByteChannel(path));
+        }
         ALL_INSTANCES.add(this);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactoryTest.java b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactoryTest.java
index 31ad5c259..4c045d9d8 100644
--- a/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactoryTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SamReaderFactoryTest.java
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 import htsjdk.samtools.seekablestream.SeekableHTTPStream;
 import htsjdk.samtools.seekablestream.SeekableStreamFactory;
 import htsjdk.samtools.util.*;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.channels.SeekableByteChannel;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.function.Function;
 import org.testng.Assert;
 import org.testng.annotations.DataProvider;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
@@ -59,6 +63,41 @@ private int countRecords(final SamReader reader) {
         return count;
     }
 
+    private static SeekableByteChannel addHeader(SeekableByteChannel input) {
+        try {
+        int total = (int)input.size();
+        final String comment = "@HD\tVN:1.0  SO:unsorted\n" +
+            "@SQ\tSN:chr1\tLN:101\n" +
+            "@SQ\tSN:chr2\tLN:101\n" +
+            "@SQ\tSN:chr3\tLN:101\n" +
+            "@RG\tID:0\tSM:JP was here\n";
+
+            byte[] commentBuf = comment.getBytes();
+        ByteBuffer buf = ByteBuffer.allocate(total + commentBuf.length);
+        buf.put(commentBuf);
+        input.position(0);
+        while (input.read(buf)>0) {
+            // read until EOF
+        }
+        buf.flip();
+        return new SeekableByteChannelFromBuffer(buf);
+        } catch (IOException x) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(x);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWrap() throws IOException {
+        final Path input = Paths.get(TEST_DATA_DIR.getPath(), "noheader.sam");
+        final SamReader wrappedReader =
+            SamReaderFactory
+                .makeDefault()
+                .setPathWrapper(SamReaderFactoryTest::addHeader)
+                .open(input);
+        int records = countRecords(wrappedReader);
+        Assert.assertEquals(10, records);
+    }
+
     // See https://github.com/samtools/htsjdk/issues/76
     @Test(dataProvider = "queryIntervalIssue76TestCases")
     public void queryIntervalIssue76(final String sequenceName, final int start, final int end, final int expectedCount) throws IOException {
@@ -194,7 +233,7 @@ private InputResource composeInputResourceForType(final InputResource.Type type,
             case FILE:
                 return new FileInputResource(f);
             case PATH:
-                return new PathInputResource(f.toPath());
+                return new PathInputResource(f.toPath(), Function.identity());
             case URL:
                 return new UrlInputResource(url);
             case SEEKABLE_STREAM:
diff --git a/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SeekableByteChannelFromBuffer.java b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SeekableByteChannelFromBuffer.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..63b036902
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SeekableByteChannelFromBuffer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package htsjdk.samtools;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.Buffer;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException;
+import java.nio.channels.SeekableByteChannel;
+import java.nio.file.StandardOpenOption;
+
+/**
+ * A buffer-backed SeekableByteChannel, for testing.
+ */
+public class SeekableByteChannelFromBuffer implements SeekableByteChannel {
+
+  private ByteBuffer buf;
+  private boolean open = true;
+
+  public SeekableByteChannelFromBuffer(ByteBuffer buf) {
+    this.buf = buf;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public int read(ByteBuffer dst) throws IOException {
+    if (buf.position() == buf.limit()) {
+      // signal EOF
+      return -1;
+    }
+    int before = dst.position();
+    dst.put(buf);
+    return dst.position() - before;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public int write(ByteBuffer src) throws IOException {
+    throw new IOException("read-only channel");
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public long position() throws IOException {
+    checkOpen();
+    return buf.position();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public SeekableByteChannel position(long newPosition) throws IOException {
+    checkOpen();
+    buf.position((int)newPosition);
+    return this;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public long size() throws IOException {
+    checkOpen();
+    return buf.limit();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public SeekableByteChannel truncate(long size) throws IOException {
+    checkOpen();
+    if (size <0) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("negative size");
+    }
+    if (size > buf.limit()) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("size larger than current");
+    }
+    buf.limit((int)size);
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public boolean isOpen() {
+    return open;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void close() throws IOException {
+    open = false;
+  }
+
+  private void checkOpen() throws IOException {
+    if (!open) {
+      throw new ClosedChannelException();
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/htsjdk/samtools/noheader.sam b/src/test/resources/htsjdk/samtools/noheader.sam
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7ac0030d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/htsjdk/samtools/noheader.sam
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+A	73	chr2	1	255	10M	*	0	0	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+A	133	*	0	0	*	chr2	1	0	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+B	99	chr1	1	255	10M	=	26	35	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+B	147	chr1	26	255	10M	=	1	-35	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+C	99	chr2	1	255	10M	=	26	35	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+C	147	chr2	26	255	10M	=	1	-35	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+D	99	chr3	1	255	10M	=	25	35	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+D	147	chr3	26	255	10M	=	1	-35	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+E	99	chr1	2	255	10M	=	15	30	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0
+E	147	chr1	15	255	10M	=	2	-30	CAACAGAAGC	)'.*.+2,))	RG:Z:0