diff --git a/scripts/oss-fuzz/minimize_qtest_trace.py b/scripts/oss-fuzz/minimize_qtest_trace.py
index cacabf2638..af9767f7e4 100755
--- a/scripts/oss-fuzz/minimize_qtest_trace.py
+++ b/scripts/oss-fuzz/minimize_qtest_trace.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def minimize_trace(inpath, outpath):
         prior = newtrace[i:i+remove_step]
         for j in range(i, i+remove_step):
             newtrace[j] = ""
-        print("Removing {lines} ...".format(lines=prior))
+        print("Removing {lines} ...\n".format(lines=prior))
         if check_if_trace_crashes(newtrace, outpath):
             i += remove_step
             # Double the number of lines to remove for next round
@@ -110,9 +110,11 @@ def minimize_trace(inpath, outpath):
             remove_step = 1
             continue
         newtrace[i] = prior[0] # remove_step = 1
+
         # 2.) Try to replace write{bwlq} commands with a write addr, len
         # command. Since this can require swapping endianness, try both LE and
         # BE options. We do this, so we can "trim" the writes in (3)
+
         if (newtrace[i].startswith("write") and not
             newtrace[i].startswith("write ")):
             suffix = newtrace[i].split()[0][-1]
@@ -133,11 +135,15 @@ def minimize_trace(inpath, outpath):
                 newtrace[i] = prior[0]
 
         # 3.) If it is a qtest write command: write addr len data, try to split
-        # it into two separate write commands. If splitting the write down the
-        # middle does not work, try to move the pivot "left" and retry, until
-        # there is no space left. The idea is to prune unneccessary bytes from
-        # long writes, while accommodating arbitrary MemoryRegion access sizes
-        # and alignments.
+        # it into two separate write commands. If splitting the data operand
+        # from length/2^n bytes to the left does not work, try to move the pivot
+        # to the right side, then add one to n, until length/2^n == 0. The idea
+        # is to prune unneccessary bytes from long writes, while accommodating
+        # arbitrary MemoryRegion access sizes and alignments.
+
+        # This algorithm will fail under some rare situations.
+        # e.g., xxxxxxxxxuxxxxxx (u is the unnecessary byte)
+
         if newtrace[i].startswith("write "):
             addr = int(newtrace[i].split()[1], 16)
             length = int(newtrace[i].split()[2], 16)
@@ -146,6 +152,7 @@ def minimize_trace(inpath, outpath):
                 leftlength = int(length/2)
                 rightlength = length - leftlength
                 newtrace.insert(i+1, "")
+                power = 1
                 while leftlength > 0:
                     newtrace[i] = "write {addr} {size} 0x{data}\n".format(
                             addr=hex(addr),
@@ -157,9 +164,13 @@ def minimize_trace(inpath, outpath):
                             data=data[leftlength*2:])
                     if check_if_trace_crashes(newtrace, outpath):
                         break
-                    else:
-                        leftlength -= 1
-                        rightlength += 1
+                    # move the pivot to right side
+                    if leftlength < rightlength:
+                        rightlength, leftlength = leftlength, rightlength
+                        continue
+                    power += 1
+                    leftlength = int(length/pow(2, power))
+                    rightlength = length - leftlength
                 if check_if_trace_crashes(newtrace, outpath):
                     i -= 1
                 else: