diff --git a/webrtc/base/criticalsection.cc b/webrtc/base/criticalsection.cc
index 2c6b100a7d..d3f42f4a9f 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/criticalsection.cc
+++ b/webrtc/base/criticalsection.cc
@@ -12,17 +12,26 @@
 
 #include "webrtc/base/checks.h"
 
+// TODO(tommi): Split this file up to per-platform implementation files.
+
 namespace rtc {
 
 CriticalSection::CriticalSection() {
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
   InitializeCriticalSection(&crit_);
+#else
+#if defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+  lock_queue_ = 0;
+  owning_thread_ = 0;
+  recursion_ = 0;
+  semaphore_ = dispatch_semaphore_create(0);
 #else
   pthread_mutexattr_t mutex_attribute;
   pthread_mutexattr_init(&mutex_attribute);
   pthread_mutexattr_settype(&mutex_attribute, PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE);
   pthread_mutex_init(&mutex_, &mutex_attribute);
   pthread_mutexattr_destroy(&mutex_attribute);
+#endif
   CS_DEBUG_CODE(thread_ = 0);
   CS_DEBUG_CODE(recursion_count_ = 0);
 #endif
@@ -31,16 +40,60 @@ CriticalSection::CriticalSection() {
 CriticalSection::~CriticalSection() {
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
   DeleteCriticalSection(&crit_);
+#else
+#if defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+  dispatch_release(semaphore_);
 #else
   pthread_mutex_destroy(&mutex_);
 #endif
+#endif
 }
 
 void CriticalSection::Enter() const EXCLUSIVE_LOCK_FUNCTION() {
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
   EnterCriticalSection(&crit_);
+#else
+#if defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+  int spin = 3000;
+  pthread_t self = pthread_self();
+  bool have_lock = false;
+  do {
+    // Instead of calling TryEnter() in this loop, we do two interlocked
+    // operations, first a read-only one in order to avoid affecting the lock
+    // cache-line while spinning, in case another thread is using the lock.
+    if (owning_thread_ != self) {
+      if (AtomicOps::AcquireLoad(&lock_queue_) == 0) {
+        if (AtomicOps::CompareAndSwap(&lock_queue_, 0, 1) == 0) {
+          have_lock = true;
+          break;
+        }
+      }
+    } else {
+      AtomicOps::Increment(&lock_queue_);
+      have_lock = true;
+      break;
+    }
+
+    sched_yield();
+  } while (--spin);
+
+  if (!have_lock && AtomicOps::Increment(&lock_queue_) > 1) {
+    // Owning thread cannot be the current thread since TryEnter() would
+    // have succeeded.
+    RTC_DCHECK(owning_thread_ != self);
+    // Wait for the lock to become available.
+    dispatch_semaphore_wait(semaphore_, DISPATCH_TIME_FOREVER);
+    RTC_DCHECK(owning_thread_ == 0);
+    RTC_DCHECK(!recursion_);
+  }
+
+  owning_thread_ = self;
+  ++recursion_;
+
 #else
   pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex_);
+#endif
+
 #if CS_DEBUG_CHECKS
   if (!recursion_count_) {
     RTC_DCHECK(!thread_);
@@ -56,9 +109,21 @@ void CriticalSection::Enter() const EXCLUSIVE_LOCK_FUNCTION() {
 bool CriticalSection::TryEnter() const EXCLUSIVE_TRYLOCK_FUNCTION(true) {
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
   return TryEnterCriticalSection(&crit_) != FALSE;
+#else
+#if defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+  if (owning_thread_ != pthread_self()) {
+    if (AtomicOps::CompareAndSwap(&lock_queue_, 0, 1) != 0)
+      return false;
+    owning_thread_ = pthread_self();
+    RTC_DCHECK(!recursion_);
+  } else {
+    AtomicOps::Increment(&lock_queue_);
+  }
+  ++recursion_;
 #else
   if (pthread_mutex_trylock(&mutex_) != 0)
     return false;
+#endif
 #if CS_DEBUG_CHECKS
   if (!recursion_count_) {
     RTC_DCHECK(!thread_);
@@ -82,8 +147,19 @@ void CriticalSection::Leave() const UNLOCK_FUNCTION() {
   if (!recursion_count_)
     thread_ = 0;
 #endif
+#if defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+  RTC_DCHECK_EQ(owning_thread_, pthread_self());
+  RTC_DCHECK_GE(recursion_, 0);
+  --recursion_;
+  if (!recursion_)
+    owning_thread_ = 0;
+
+  if (AtomicOps::Decrement(&lock_queue_) > 0 && !recursion_)
+    dispatch_semaphore_signal(semaphore_);
+#else
   pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex_);
 #endif
+#endif
 }
 
 bool CriticalSection::CurrentThreadIsOwner() const {
@@ -135,13 +211,15 @@ bool TryCritScope::locked() const {
 }
 
 void GlobalLockPod::Lock() {
-#if !defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
+#if !defined(WEBRTC_WIN) && (!defined(WEBRTC_MAC) || USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC)
   const struct timespec ts_null = {0};
 #endif
 
   while (AtomicOps::CompareAndSwap(&lock_acquired, 0, 1)) {
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
     ::Sleep(0);
+#elif defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+    sched_yield();
 #else
     nanosleep(&ts_null, nullptr);
 #endif
diff --git a/webrtc/base/criticalsection.h b/webrtc/base/criticalsection.h
index cc54eca1f0..3b45fe4c6c 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/criticalsection.h
+++ b/webrtc/base/criticalsection.h
@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@
 #include <pthread.h>
 #endif
 
+// See notes in the 'Performance' unit test for the effects of this flag.
+#define USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC 0
+
+#if defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+#include <dispatch/dispatch.h>
+#endif
+
 #if (!defined(NDEBUG) || defined(DCHECK_ALWAYS_ON))
 #define CS_DEBUG_CHECKS 1
 #endif
@@ -62,7 +69,21 @@ class LOCKABLE CriticalSection {
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
   mutable CRITICAL_SECTION crit_;
 #elif defined(WEBRTC_POSIX)
+#if defined(WEBRTC_MAC) && !USE_NATIVE_MUTEX_ON_MAC
+  // Number of times the lock has been locked + number of threads waiting.
+  // TODO(tommi): We could use this number and subtract the recursion count
+  // to find places where we have multiple threads contending on the same lock.
+  mutable volatile int lock_queue_;
+  // |recursion_| represents the recursion count + 1 for the thread that owns
+  // the lock. Only modified by the thread that owns the lock.
+  mutable int recursion_;
+  // Used to signal a single waiting thread when the lock becomes available.
+  mutable dispatch_semaphore_t semaphore_;
+  // The thread that currently holds the lock. Required to handle recursion.
+  mutable pthread_t owning_thread_;
+#else
   mutable pthread_mutex_t mutex_;
+#endif
   CS_DEBUG_CODE(mutable pthread_t thread_);
   CS_DEBUG_CODE(mutable int recursion_count_);
 #endif
diff --git a/webrtc/base/criticalsection_unittest.cc b/webrtc/base/criticalsection_unittest.cc
index d6990c0023..a0e1033862 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/criticalsection_unittest.cc
+++ b/webrtc/base/criticalsection_unittest.cc
@@ -11,9 +11,12 @@
 #include <set>
 #include <vector>
 
+#include "webrtc/base/arraysize.h"
+#include "webrtc/base/checks.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/criticalsection.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/event.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/gunit.h"
+#include "webrtc/base/platform_thread.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/scoped_ptr.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/scopedptrcollection.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/thread.h"
@@ -320,4 +323,109 @@ TEST(CriticalSectionTest, IsLocked) {
 }
 #endif
 
+class PerfTestData {
+ public:
+  PerfTestData(int expected_count, Event* event)
+      : cache_line_barrier_1_(), cache_line_barrier_2_(),
+        expected_count_(expected_count), event_(event) {
+    cache_line_barrier_1_[0]++;  // Avoid 'is not used'.
+    cache_line_barrier_2_[0]++;  // Avoid 'is not used'.
+  }
+  ~PerfTestData() {}
+
+  void AddToCounter(int add) {
+    rtc::CritScope cs(&lock_);
+    my_counter_ += add;
+    if (my_counter_ == expected_count_)
+      event_->Set();
+  }
+
+  int64_t total() const {
+    // Assume that only one thread is running now.
+    return my_counter_;
+  }
+
+ private:
+  uint8_t cache_line_barrier_1_[64];
+  CriticalSection lock_;
+  uint8_t cache_line_barrier_2_[64];
+  int64_t my_counter_ = 0;
+  const int expected_count_;
+  Event* const event_;
+};
+
+class PerfTestThread {
+ public:
+  PerfTestThread() : thread_(&ThreadFunc, this, "CsPerf") {}
+
+  void Start(PerfTestData* data, int repeats, int id) {
+    RTC_DCHECK(!thread_.IsRunning());
+    RTC_DCHECK(!data_);
+    data_ = data;
+    repeats_ = repeats;
+    my_id_ = id;
+    thread_.Start();
+  }
+
+  void Stop() {
+    RTC_DCHECK(thread_.IsRunning());
+    RTC_DCHECK(data_);
+    thread_.Stop();
+    repeats_ = 0;
+    data_ = nullptr;
+    my_id_ = 0;
+  }
+
+ private:
+  static bool ThreadFunc(void* param) {
+    PerfTestThread* me = static_cast<PerfTestThread*>(param);
+    for (int i = 0; i < me->repeats_; ++i)
+      me->data_->AddToCounter(me->my_id_);
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  PlatformThread thread_;
+  PerfTestData* data_ = nullptr;
+  int repeats_ = 0;
+  int my_id_ = 0;
+};
+
+// Comparison of output of this test as tested on a MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch,
+// Mid 2014, 2,8 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3,
+// running OS X El Capitan, 10.11.2.
+//
+// Native mutex implementation:
+// Approximate CPU usage:
+//   System: ~16%
+//   User mode: ~1.3%
+//   Idle: ~82%
+// Unit test output:
+// [       OK ] CriticalSectionTest.Performance (234545 ms)
+//
+// Special partially spin lock based implementation:
+// Approximate CPU usage:
+//   System: ~75%
+//   User mode: ~16%
+//   Idle: ~8%
+// Unit test output:
+// [       OK ] CriticalSectionTest.Performance (2107 ms)
+//
+// The test is disabled by default to avoid unecessarily loading the bots.
+TEST(CriticalSectionTest, DISABLED_Performance) {
+  PerfTestThread threads[8];
+  Event event(false, false);
+
+  static const int kThreadRepeats = 10000000;
+  static const int kExpectedCount = kThreadRepeats * arraysize(threads);
+  PerfTestData test_data(kExpectedCount, &event);
+
+  for (auto& t : threads)
+    t.Start(&test_data, kThreadRepeats, 1);
+
+  event.Wait(Event::kForever);
+
+  for (auto& t : threads)
+    t.Stop();
+}
+
 }  // namespace rtc