diff --git a/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializationOptions.java b/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializationOptions.java
index 42deadb0e..123199b65 100644
--- a/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializationOptions.java
+++ b/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializationOptions.java
@@ -44,11 +44,14 @@ public class ATNDeserializationOptions {
 	}
 
 	private boolean readOnly;
+	private boolean verifyATN;
 
 	public ATNDeserializationOptions() {
+		this.verifyATN = true;
 	}
 
 	public ATNDeserializationOptions(ATNDeserializationOptions options) {
+		this.verifyATN = options.verifyATN;
 	}
 
 	@NotNull
@@ -64,6 +67,15 @@ public class ATNDeserializationOptions {
 		readOnly = true;
 	}
 
+	public final boolean isVerifyATN() {
+		return verifyATN;
+	}
+
+	public final void setVerifyATN(boolean verifyATN) {
+		throwIfReadOnly();
+		this.verifyATN = verifyATN;
+	}
+
 	protected void throwIfReadOnly() {
 		if (isReadOnly()) {
 			throw new IllegalStateException("The object is read only.");
diff --git a/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializer.java b/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializer.java
index 4945a5134..0814974a0 100644
--- a/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializer.java
+++ b/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/atn/ATNDeserializer.java
@@ -358,7 +358,10 @@ public class ATNDeserializer {
 			decState.decision = i-1;
 		}
 
-		verifyATN(atn);
+		if (deserializationOptions.isVerifyATN()) {
+			verifyATN(atn);
+		}
+
 		return atn;
 	}