diff --git a/src/util/virfile.c b/src/util/virfile.c
index f66212721c..e10de5aae7 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.c
+++ b/src/util/virfile.c
@@ -1075,7 +1075,7 @@ safezero(int fd, off_t offset, off_t len)
 
     /* Split up the write in small chunks so as not to allocate lots of RAM */
     remain = len;
-    bytes = MAX(1024 * 1024, len);
+    bytes = MIN(1024 * 1024, len);
 
     r = VIR_ALLOC_N(buf, bytes);
     if (r < 0) {