diff --git a/mkfs/rootdir.c b/mkfs/rootdir.c
index e06b65ac..a1d223a2 100644
--- a/mkfs/rootdir.c
+++ b/mkfs/rootdir.c
@@ -139,7 +139,8 @@ static int fill_inode_item(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	}
 	if (S_ISREG(src->st_mode)) {
 		btrfs_set_stack_inode_size(dst, (u64)src->st_size);
-		if (src->st_size <= BTRFS_MAX_INLINE_DATA_SIZE(root->fs_info))
+		if (src->st_size <= BTRFS_MAX_INLINE_DATA_SIZE(root->fs_info) &&
+		    src->st_size < sectorsize)
 			btrfs_set_stack_inode_nbytes(dst, src->st_size);
 		else {
 			blocks = src->st_size / sectorsize;
@@ -327,7 +328,8 @@ static int add_file_items(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	if (st->st_size % sectorsize)
 		blocks += 1;
 
-	if (st->st_size <= BTRFS_MAX_INLINE_DATA_SIZE(root->fs_info)) {
+	if (st->st_size <= BTRFS_MAX_INLINE_DATA_SIZE(root->fs_info) &&
+	    st->st_size < sectorsize) {
 		char *buffer = malloc(st->st_size);
 
 		if (!buffer) {