diff --git a/src/chttpd/test/chttpd_db_doc_size_tests.erl b/src/chttpd/test/chttpd_db_doc_size_tests.erl
index c4706af4ad..f03de3155e 100644
--- a/src/chttpd/test/chttpd_db_doc_size_tests.erl
+++ b/src/chttpd/test/chttpd_db_doc_size_tests.erl
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ put_single_doc(Url) ->
 
 bulk_doc(Url) ->
     NewDoc = "{\"docs\": [{\"doc1\": 1}, {\"errordoc\":
-        \"this_should_be_the_error_document\"}]}",
+        \"this_should_be_the_too_large_error_document\"}]}",
     {ok, _, _, ResultBody} = test_request:post(Url ++ "/_bulk_docs/",
         [?CONTENT_JSON, ?AUTH], NewDoc),
     ResultJson = ?JSON_DECODE(ResultBody),
diff --git a/src/couch/src/couch_doc.erl b/src/couch/src/couch_doc.erl
index 381ad4b4f5..58da6bc7bf 100644
--- a/src/couch/src/couch_doc.erl
+++ b/src/couch/src/couch_doc.erl
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ doc_to_json_obj(#doc{id=Id,deleted=Del,body=Body,revs={Start, RevIds},
 from_json_obj_validate(EJson) ->
     MaxSize = config:get_integer("couchdb", "max_document_size", 4294967296),
     Doc = from_json_obj(EJson),
-    case erlang:external_size(Doc#doc.body) =< MaxSize of
+    case  byte_size(jiffy:encode(Doc#doc.body)) =< MaxSize of
         true ->
              Doc;
         false ->