diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/BytesWritable.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/BytesWritable.java
index a81bc24e89..c5538c9e56 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/BytesWritable.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/BytesWritable.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 @InterfaceStability.Stable
 public class BytesWritable extends BinaryComparable
     implements WritableComparable<BinaryComparable> {
+  private static final int MAX_ARRAY_SIZE = Integer.MAX_VALUE - 8;
   private static final int LENGTH_BYTES = 4;
 
   private static final byte[] EMPTY_BYTES = new byte[0];
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ public int getSize() {
   public void setSize(int size) {
     if (size > getCapacity()) {
       // Avoid overflowing the int too early by casting to a long.
-      long newSize = Math.min(Integer.MAX_VALUE, (3L * size) / 2L);
+      long newSize = Math.min(MAX_ARRAY_SIZE, (3L * size) / 2L);
       setCapacity((int) newSize);
     }
     this.size = size;