diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Tween.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Tween.js
index 4e504381a5..14e77210b8 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Tween.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Tween.js
@@ -52,6 +52,22 @@ OpenLayers.Tween = OpenLayers.Class({
      */
     time: null,
     
+    /**
+     * APIProperty: minFrameRate
+     * {Number} The minimum framerate for animations. After each step, the time
+     * spent in the animation is compared to the calculated time at this frame
+     * rate. If the animation runs longer than the calculated time, the next
+     * step is skipped.
+     */
+    minFrameRate: 30,
+
+    /**
+     * Property: startTime
+     * {Number} The timestamp of the first execution step. Used for skipping
+     * frames
+     */
+    startTime: null,
+    
     /**
      * Property: animationId
      * {int} Loop id returned by OpenLayers.Animation.start
@@ -92,6 +108,7 @@ OpenLayers.Tween = OpenLayers.Class({
         this.duration = duration;
         this.callbacks = options.callbacks;
         this.time = 0;
+        this.startTime = new Date().getTime();
         OpenLayers.Animation.stop(this.animationId);
         this.animationId = null;
         if (this.callbacks && this.callbacks.start) {
@@ -139,7 +156,10 @@ OpenLayers.Tween = OpenLayers.Class({
         this.time++;
         
         if (this.callbacks && this.callbacks.eachStep) {
-            this.callbacks.eachStep.call(this, value);
+            // skip frames if frame rate drops below threshold
+            if ((new Date().getTime() - this.startTime) / this.time <= 1000 / this.minFrameRate) {
+                this.callbacks.eachStep.call(this, value);
+            }
         }
         
         if (this.time > this.duration) {
diff --git a/tests/Tween.html b/tests/Tween.html
index fdd8fa7016..5c52b84e26 100644
--- a/tests/Tween.html
+++ b/tests/Tween.html
@@ -74,6 +74,36 @@
         tween.stop();
         t.ok(tween.animationId != null, "stop method doesn't do anything if tween isn't running");
     }
+    
+    function test_Tween_skip(t) {
+        t.plan(2);
+        
+        var tween = new OpenLayers.Tween();
+        var log1 = 0;
+        tween.start({count: 0}, {count: 10}, 10, {
+            callbacks: {
+                eachStep: function() {
+                    log1++;
+                }
+            },
+            minFrameRate: 10000
+        });
+        
+        var log2 = 0;
+        tween.start({count: 0}, {count: 10}, 10, {
+            callbacks: {
+                eachStep: function() {
+                    log2++;
+                }
+            },
+            minFrameRate: 1
+        });
+
+        t.delay_call(0.8, function() {
+            t.eq(log1, 0, 'all frames skipped at a frame rate of 10000');            
+            t.eq(log2, 11, 'no frames skipped at a frame rate of 1');            
+        });
+    }
 
     </script> 
 </head>