diff --git a/glib/gfileutils.c b/glib/gfileutils.c
index 8992203d6..46f200ddf 100644
--- a/glib/gfileutils.c
+++ b/glib/gfileutils.c
@@ -1157,7 +1157,7 @@ write_to_file (const gchar  *contents,
     {
       gssize s;
 
-      s = write (fd, contents, length);
+      s = write (fd, contents, MIN (length, G_MAXSSIZE));
 
       if (s < 0)
         {