diff --git a/Lib/socket.py b/Lib/socket.py
index 6b4b743f680..2ca8ff61ebd 100644
--- a/Lib/socket.py
+++ b/Lib/socket.py
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ class _fileobject(object):
             self._rbuf = ""
             while True:
                 left = size - buf_len
-                recv_size = max(self._rbufsize, left)
+                recv_size = min(self._rbufsize, left)
                 data = self._sock.recv(recv_size)
                 if not data:
                     break