diff --git a/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/misc/Utils.java b/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/misc/Utils.java
index bd299cd73..dad10e7c2 100644
--- a/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/misc/Utils.java
+++ b/runtime/Java/src/org/antlr/v4/runtime/misc/Utils.java
@@ -53,6 +53,18 @@ public class Utils {
         return buf.toString();
     }
 
+	public static <T> String join(T[] array, String separator) {
+		StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
+		for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
+			builder.append(array[i]);
+			if (i < array.length - 1) {
+				builder.append(separator);
+			}
+		}
+
+		return builder.toString();
+	}
+
 	public static int numNonnull(Object[] data) {
 		int n = 0;
 		if ( data == null ) return n;
diff --git a/tool/resources/org/antlr/v4/tool/templates/codegen/Java/Java.stg b/tool/resources/org/antlr/v4/tool/templates/codegen/Java/Java.stg
index 4dbb6d942..9fc48557d 100644
--- a/tool/resources/org/antlr/v4/tool/templates/codegen/Java/Java.stg
+++ b/tool/resources/org/antlr/v4/tool/templates/codegen/Java/Java.stg
@@ -817,10 +817,23 @@ public class <lexer.name> extends <superClass> {
 }
 >>
 
-
 SerializedATN(model) ::= <<
+<if(rest(model.segments))>
+<! requires segmented representation !>
+private static final int _serializedATNSegments = <length(model.segments)>;
+<model.segments:{segment|private static final String _serializedATNSegment<i0> =
+	"<segment; wrap={"+<\n><\t>"}>";}; separator="\n">
+public static final String _serializedATN = Utils.join(
+	new String[] {
+		<model.segments:{segment | _serializedATNSegment<i0>}; separator=",\n">
+	},
+	""
+);
+<else>
+<! only one segment, can be inlined !>
 public static final String _serializedATN =
 	"<model.serialized; wrap={"+<\n><\t>"}>";
+<endif>
 public static final ATN _ATN =
 	ATNSimulator.deserialize(_serializedATN.toCharArray());
 static {
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/automata/ATNSerializer.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/automata/ATNSerializer.java
index b30a77801..3a2371829 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/automata/ATNSerializer.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/automata/ATNSerializer.java
@@ -263,7 +263,10 @@ public class ATNSerializer {
 
 		// don't adjust the first value since that's the version number
 		for (int i = 1; i < data.size(); i++) {
-			assert data.get(i) >= -1 && data.get(i) < 0xFFFF;
+			if (data.get(i) < -1 || data.get(i) > 0xFFFE) {
+				throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Serialized ATN data element out of range.");
+			}
+
 			int value = (data.get(i) + 2) & 0xFFFF;
 			if (value == 0xFFFF) {
 				value = -1;
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/JavaTarget.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/JavaTarget.java
index 174487fd9..25203819f 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/JavaTarget.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/JavaTarget.java
@@ -163,6 +163,13 @@ public class JavaTarget extends Target {
 		return "\\u"+hex;
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public int getSerializedATNSegmentLimit() {
+		// 65535 is the class file format byte limit for a UTF-8 encoded string literal
+		// 3 is the maximum number of bytes it takes to encode a value in the range 0-0xFFFF
+		return 65535 / 3;
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	protected boolean visibleGrammarSymbolCausesIssueInGeneratedCode(GrammarAST idNode) {
 		return getBadWords().contains(idNode.getText());
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/Target.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/Target.java
index 66e5ed34a..ed862f2e8 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/Target.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/Target.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 package org.antlr.v4.codegen;
 
 import org.antlr.v4.codegen.model.RuleFunction;
+import org.antlr.v4.codegen.model.SerializedATN;
 import org.antlr.v4.misc.Utils;
 import org.antlr.v4.parse.ANTLRParser;
 import org.antlr.v4.runtime.Token;
@@ -287,6 +288,18 @@ public abstract class Target {
 		return getTokenTypeAsTargetLabel(getCodeGenerator().g, ttype);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Gets the maximum number of 16-bit unsigned integers that can be encoded
+	 * in a single segment of the serialized ATN.
+	 *
+	 * @see SerializedATN#getSegments
+	 *
+	 * @return the serialized ATN segment limit
+	 */
+	public int getSerializedATNSegmentLimit() {
+		return Integer.MAX_VALUE;
+	}
+
 	public boolean grammarSymbolCausesIssueInGeneratedCode(GrammarAST idNode) {
 		switch (idNode.getParent().getType()) {
 		case ANTLRParser.ASSIGN:
diff --git a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/model/SerializedATN.java b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/model/SerializedATN.java
index df7fe2320..7345e53c1 100644
--- a/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/model/SerializedATN.java
+++ b/tool/src/org/antlr/v4/codegen/model/SerializedATN.java
@@ -51,4 +51,15 @@ public class SerializedATN extends OutputModelObject {
 		}
 //		System.out.println(ATNSerializer.getDecoded(factory.getGrammar(), atn));
 	}
+
+	public String[][] getSegments() {
+		List<String[]> segments = new ArrayList<String[]>();
+		int segmentLimit = factory.getGenerator().getTarget().getSerializedATNSegmentLimit();
+		for (int i = 0; i < serialized.size(); i += segmentLimit) {
+			List<String> currentSegment = serialized.subList(i, Math.min(i + segmentLimit, serialized.size()));
+			segments.add(currentSegment.toArray(new String[currentSegment.size()]));
+		}
+
+		return segments.toArray(new String[segments.size()][]);
+	}
 }
diff --git a/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/TestLexerExec.java b/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/TestLexerExec.java
index d7617c4c8..cbba4ec9e 100644
--- a/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/TestLexerExec.java
+++ b/tool/test/org/antlr/v4/test/TestLexerExec.java
@@ -693,6 +693,28 @@ public class TestLexerExec extends BaseTest {
 		assertEquals(expecting, found);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * This is a regression test for antlr/antlr4#76 "Serialized ATN strings
+	 * should be split when longer than 2^16 bytes (class file limitation)"
+	 * https://github.com/antlr/antlr4/issues/76
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void testLargeLexer() throws Exception {
+		StringBuilder grammar = new StringBuilder();
+		grammar.append("lexer grammar L;\n");
+		grammar.append("WS : [ \\t\\r\\n]+ -> skip;\n");
+		for (int i = 0; i < 4000; i++) {
+			grammar.append("KW").append(i).append(" : '").append("KW").append(i).append("';\n");
+		}
+
+		String input = "KW400";
+		String found = execLexer("L.g4", grammar.toString(), "L", input);
+		String expecting =
+			"[@0,0:4='KW400',<402>,1:0]\n" +
+			"[@1,5:4='<EOF>',<-1>,1:5]\n";
+		assertEquals(expecting, found);
+	}
+
 	protected String load(String fileName, @Nullable String encoding)
 		throws IOException
 	{