diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
index 82a12b78272b..064892499911 100644
--- a/LICENSE
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@ This product includes code from Apache Parquet.
 * DynMethods.java
 * DynConstructors.java
 * AssertHelpers.java
+* IOUtil.java readFully and tests
 
 Copyright: 2014-2017 The Apache Software Foundation.
 Home page: https://parquet.apache.org/
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/RangeReadable.java b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/RangeReadable.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fafdd7b02037
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/RangeReadable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.iceberg.io;
+
+import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * {@code RangeReadable} is an interface that allows for implementations
+ * of {@link InputFile} streams to perform positional, range-based reads, which
+ * are more efficient than unbounded reads in many cloud provider object stores.
+ *
+ * Thread safety is not a requirement of the interface and is left to the
+ * implementation.
+ *
+ * If the implementation is also a {@link SeekableInputStream}, the position
+ * of the stream is not required to be updated based on the positional reads
+ * performed by this interface.  Usage of {@link SeekableInputStream} should
+ * always seek to the appropriate position for {@link java.io.InputStream}
+ * based reads.
+ *
+ */
+public interface RangeReadable extends Closeable {
+
+  /**
+   * Fill the provided buffer with the contents of the input source starting
+   * at {@code position} for the given {@code offset} and {@code length}.
+   *
+   * @param position start position of the read
+   * @param buffer target buffer to copy data
+   * @param offset offset in the buffer to copy the data
+   * @param length size of the read
+   */
+  void readFully(long position, byte[] buffer, int offset, int length) throws IOException;
+
+  /**
+   * Fill the entire buffer with the contents of the input source starting
+   * at {@code position}.
+   *
+   * @param position start position of the read
+   * @param buffer target buffer to copy data
+   */
+  default void readFully(long position, byte[] buffer) throws IOException {
+    readFully(position, buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Read the last {@code length} bytes from the file.
+   *
+   * @param buffer the buffer to write data into
+   * @param offset the offset in the buffer to start writing
+   * @param length the number of bytes from the end of the object to read
+   * @return the actual number of bytes read
+   * @throws IOException if an error occurs while reading
+   */
+  int readTail(byte [] buffer, int offset, int length) throws IOException;
+
+  /**
+   * Read the full size of the buffer from the end of the file.
+   *
+   * @param buffer the buffer to write data into
+   * @return the actual number of bytes read
+   * @throws IOException if an error occurs while reading
+   */
+  default int readTail(byte [] buffer) throws IOException {
+    return readTail(buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/aws/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/S3InputStream.java b/aws/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/S3InputStream.java
index 394449aee147..92d0f3f3eae9 100644
--- a/aws/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/S3InputStream.java
+++ b/aws/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/S3InputStream.java
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import org.apache.iceberg.aws.AwsProperties;
 import org.apache.iceberg.io.FileIOMetricsContext;
+import org.apache.iceberg.io.IOUtil;
+import org.apache.iceberg.io.RangeReadable;
 import org.apache.iceberg.io.SeekableInputStream;
 import org.apache.iceberg.metrics.MetricsContext;
 import org.apache.iceberg.metrics.MetricsContext.Counter;
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@
 import software.amazon.awssdk.services.s3.S3Client;
 import software.amazon.awssdk.services.s3.model.GetObjectRequest;
 
-class S3InputStream extends SeekableInputStream {
+class S3InputStream extends SeekableInputStream implements RangeReadable {
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(S3InputStream.class);
 
   private final StackTraceElement[] createStack;
@@ -111,6 +113,35 @@ public int read(byte[] b, int off, int len) throws IOException {
     return bytesRead;
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public void readFully(long position, byte[] buffer, int offset, int length) throws IOException {
+    Preconditions.checkPositionIndexes(offset, offset + length, buffer.length);
+
+    String range = String.format("bytes=%s-%s", position, position + length - 1);
+
+    IOUtil.readFully(readRange(range), buffer, offset, length);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public int readTail(byte[] buffer, int offset, int length) throws IOException {
+    Preconditions.checkPositionIndexes(offset, offset + length, buffer.length);
+
+    String range = String.format("bytes=-%s", length);
+
+    return IOUtil.readRemaining(readRange(range), buffer, offset, length);
+  }
+
+  private InputStream readRange(String range) {
+    GetObjectRequest.Builder requestBuilder = GetObjectRequest.builder()
+        .bucket(location.bucket())
+        .key(location.key())
+        .range(range);
+
+    S3RequestUtil.configureEncryption(awsProperties, requestBuilder);
+
+    return s3.getObject(requestBuilder.build(), ResponseTransformer.toInputStream());
+  }
+
   @Override
   public void close() throws IOException {
     super.close();
diff --git a/aws/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/TestS3InputStream.java b/aws/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/TestS3InputStream.java
index 9568ac600882..417ba16f71ad 100644
--- a/aws/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/TestS3InputStream.java
+++ b/aws/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/aws/s3/TestS3InputStream.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Random;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.apache.iceberg.io.RangeReadable;
 import org.apache.iceberg.io.SeekableInputStream;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
@@ -105,6 +106,49 @@ private void readAndCheck(SeekableInputStream in, long rangeStart, int size, byt
     assertArrayEquals(Arrays.copyOfRange(original, (int) rangeStart, (int) rangeEnd), actual);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testRangeRead() throws Exception {
+    S3URI uri = new S3URI("s3://bucket/path/to/range-read.dat");
+    int dataSize = 1024 * 1024 * 10;
+    byte[] expected = randomData(dataSize);
+    byte[] actual = new byte[dataSize];
+
+    long position;
+    int offset;
+    int length;
+
+    writeS3Data(uri, expected);
+
+    try (RangeReadable in = new S3InputStream(s3, uri)) {
+      // first 1k
+      position = 0;
+      offset = 0;
+      length = 1024;
+      readAndCheckRanges(in, expected, position, actual, offset, length);
+
+      // last 1k
+      position = dataSize - 1024;
+      offset = dataSize - 1024;
+      readAndCheckRanges(in, expected, position, actual, offset, length);
+
+      // middle 2k
+      position = dataSize / 2 - 1024;
+      offset = dataSize / 2 - 1024;
+      length = 1024 * 2;
+      readAndCheckRanges(in, expected, position, actual, offset, length);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void readAndCheckRanges(
+      RangeReadable in, byte [] original, long position, byte [] buffer, int offset,
+      int length) throws IOException {
+    in.readFully(position, buffer, offset, length);
+
+    assertArrayEquals(
+        Arrays.copyOfRange(original, offset, offset + length),
+        Arrays.copyOfRange(buffer, offset, offset + length));
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testClose() throws Exception {
     S3URI uri = new S3URI("s3://bucket/path/to/closed.dat");
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/IOUtil.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/IOUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0daf4a019358
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/IOUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.iceberg.io;
+
+import java.io.EOFException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+
+public class IOUtil {
+  // not meant to be instantiated
+  private IOUtil() {
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Reads into a buffer from a stream, making multiple read calls if necessary.
+   *
+   * @param stream an InputStream to read from
+   * @param bytes a buffer to write into
+   * @param offset starting offset in the buffer for the data
+   * @param length length of bytes to copy from the input stream to the buffer
+   * @throws EOFException if the end of the stream is reached before reading length bytes
+   * @throws IOException if there is an error while reading
+   */
+  public static void readFully(InputStream stream, byte[] bytes, int offset, int length) throws IOException {
+    int bytesRead = readRemaining(stream, bytes, offset, length);
+    if (bytesRead < length) {
+      throw new EOFException(
+          "Reached the end of stream with " + (length - bytesRead) + " bytes left to read");
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Reads into a buffer from a stream, making multiple read calls if necessary
+   * returning the number of bytes read until end of stream.
+   *
+   * @param stream an InputStream to read from
+   * @param bytes a buffer to write into
+   * @param offset starting offset in the buffer for the data
+   * @param length length of bytes to copy from the input stream to the buffer
+   * @return the number of bytes read
+   * @throws IOException if there is an error while reading
+   */
+  public static int readRemaining(InputStream stream, byte[] bytes, int offset, int length) throws IOException {
+    int pos = offset;
+    int remaining = length;
+    while (remaining > 0) {
+      int bytesRead = stream.read(bytes, pos, remaining);
+      if (bytesRead < 0) {
+        break;
+      }
+
+      remaining -= bytesRead;
+      pos += bytesRead;
+    }
+
+    return length - remaining;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/MockInputStream.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/MockInputStream.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7cc251ebd641
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/MockInputStream.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.iceberg.io;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+
+class MockInputStream extends ByteArrayInputStream {
+
+  static final byte[] TEST_ARRAY = new byte[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 };
+
+  private int[] lengths;
+  private int current = 0;
+
+  MockInputStream(int... actualReadLengths) {
+    super(TEST_ARRAY);
+    this.lengths = actualReadLengths;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public synchronized int read(byte[] b, int off, int len) {
+    if (current < lengths.length) {
+      if (len <= lengths[current]) {
+        // when len == lengths[current], the next read will by 0 bytes
+        int bytesRead = super.read(b, off, len);
+        lengths[current] -= bytesRead;
+        return bytesRead;
+      } else {
+        int bytesRead = super.read(b, off, lengths[current]);
+        current += 1;
+        return bytesRead;
+      }
+    } else {
+      return super.read(b, off, len);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public long getPos() {
+    return this.pos;
+  }
+}
+
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/TestIOUtil.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/TestIOUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dae92785fc65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/TestIOUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.iceberg.io;
+
+import java.io.EOFException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import org.apache.iceberg.AssertHelpers;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class TestIOUtil {
+  @Test
+  public void testReadFully() throws Exception {
+    byte[] buffer = new byte[5];
+
+    MockInputStream stream = new MockInputStream();
+    IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+
+    Assert.assertArrayEquals("Byte array contents should match",
+        Arrays.copyOfRange(MockInputStream.TEST_ARRAY, 0, 5), buffer);
+    Assert.assertEquals("Stream position should reflect bytes read", 5, stream.getPos());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testReadFullySmallReads() throws Exception {
+    byte[] buffer = new byte[5];
+
+    MockInputStream stream = new MockInputStream(2, 3, 3);
+    IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+
+    Assert.assertArrayEquals("Byte array contents should match",
+        Arrays.copyOfRange(MockInputStream.TEST_ARRAY, 0, 5), buffer);
+    Assert.assertEquals("Stream position should reflect bytes read", 5, stream.getPos());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testReadFullyJustRight() throws Exception {
+    final byte[] buffer = new byte[10];
+
+    final MockInputStream stream = new MockInputStream(2, 3, 3);
+    IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+
+    Assert.assertArrayEquals("Byte array contents should match", MockInputStream.TEST_ARRAY, buffer);
+    Assert.assertEquals("Stream position should reflect bytes read", 10, stream.getPos());
+
+    AssertHelpers.assertThrows("Should throw EOFException if no more bytes left",
+        EOFException.class, () -> {
+          IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 0, 1);
+          return null;
+        });
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testReadFullyUnderflow() {
+    final byte[] buffer = new byte[11];
+
+    final MockInputStream stream = new MockInputStream(2, 3, 3);
+
+    AssertHelpers.assertThrows("Should throw EOFException if no more bytes left",
+        EOFException.class, () -> {
+          IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+          return null;
+        });
+
+    Assert.assertArrayEquals("Should have consumed bytes",
+        MockInputStream.TEST_ARRAY, Arrays.copyOfRange(buffer, 0, 10));
+    Assert.assertEquals("Stream position should reflect bytes read", 10, stream.getPos());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testReadFullyStartAndLength() throws IOException {
+    byte[] buffer = new byte[10];
+
+    MockInputStream stream = new MockInputStream();
+    IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 2, 5);
+
+    Assert.assertArrayEquals("Byte array contents should match",
+        Arrays.copyOfRange(MockInputStream.TEST_ARRAY, 0, 5), Arrays.copyOfRange(buffer, 2, 7));
+    Assert.assertEquals("Stream position should reflect bytes read", 5, stream.getPos());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testReadFullyZeroByteRead() throws IOException {
+    byte[] buffer = new byte[0];
+
+    MockInputStream stream = new MockInputStream();
+    IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+
+    Assert.assertEquals("Stream position should reflect bytes read", 0, stream.getPos());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testReadFullySmallReadsWithStartAndLength() throws IOException {
+    byte[] buffer = new byte[10];
+
+    MockInputStream stream = new MockInputStream(2, 2, 3);
+    IOUtil.readFully(stream, buffer, 2, 5);
+
+    Assert.assertArrayEquals("Byte array contents should match",
+        Arrays.copyOfRange(MockInputStream.TEST_ARRAY, 0, 5), Arrays.copyOfRange(buffer, 2, 7));
+    Assert.assertEquals("Stream position should reflect bytes read", 5, stream.getPos());
+  }
+
+}