diff --git a/fs/btrfs/volumes.c b/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
index 8c5ae9943d69..252cc2ef98ee 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
@@ -4794,19 +4794,17 @@ static int __btrfs_alloc_chunk(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	/*
 	 * Use the number of data stripes to figure out how big this chunk
 	 * is really going to be in terms of logical address space,
-	 * and compare that answer with the max chunk size
+	 * and compare that answer with the max chunk size. If it's higher,
+	 * we try to reduce stripe_size.
 	 */
 	if (stripe_size * data_stripes > max_chunk_size) {
-		stripe_size = div_u64(max_chunk_size, data_stripes);
-
-		/* bump the answer up to a 16MB boundary */
-		stripe_size = round_up(stripe_size, SZ_16M);
-
 		/*
-		 * But don't go higher than the limits we found while searching
-		 * for free extents
+		 * Reduce stripe_size, round it up to a 16MB boundary again and
+		 * then use it, unless it ends up being even bigger than the
+		 * previous value we had already.
 		 */
-		stripe_size = min(devices_info[ndevs - 1].max_avail,
+		stripe_size = min(round_up(div_u64(max_chunk_size,
+						   data_stripes), SZ_16M),
 				  stripe_size);
 	}