diff --git a/c++/src/H5File.cpp b/c++/src/H5File.cpp
index a45f91e9dc..a39d93f088 100644
--- a/c++/src/H5File.cpp
+++ b/c++/src/H5File.cpp
@@ -492,12 +492,14 @@ hid_t H5File::getLocId() const
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 haddr_t H5File::getFileSize(void) const
 {
-   haddr_t file_size = H5Fget_filesize(id);
-   if( file_size < 0 )
+   herr_t ret;
+   
+   ret = H5Fget_filesize(id, size);
+   if( ret < 0 )
    {
       throw FileIException("H5File::getFileSize", "H5Fget_filesize failed");
    }
-   return(file_size);
+   return ret;
 }
 
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/c++/src/H5File.h b/c++/src/H5File.h
index bb20643aae..d688e6fe2d 100644
--- a/c++/src/H5File.h
+++ b/c++/src/H5File.h
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ class H5_DLLCPP H5File : public IdComponent, public CommonFG {
 	DataSpace getRegion(void *ref, H5R_type_t ref_type = H5R_DATASET_REGION) const;
 
         // Retrieves the file size of an opened file.
-        haddr_t getFileSize() const;
+        herr_t getFileSize(hsize_t *size) const;
 
 	// Reopens this file
 	void reopen();
diff --git a/c++/test/tfile.cpp b/c++/test/tfile.cpp
index 9dc61279b0..1ad2680e53 100644
--- a/c++/test/tfile.cpp
+++ b/c++/test/tfile.cpp
@@ -337,8 +337,9 @@ test_file_size(void)
 	H5File fid( FILE4, H5F_ACC_TRUNC, FileCreatPropList::DEFAULT, fapl);
 
         // Get file size
-        haddr_t file_size = fid.getFileSize();
-        CHECK(file_size, FAIL, "H5File::getFileSize");
+        hsize_t file_size;
+        herr_t ret = fid.getFileSize(&file_size);
+        CHECK(ret, FAIL, "H5File::getFileSize");
 
         // Check if file size is reasonable.  It's supposed to be 2KB now.
         if(file_size<1*KB || file_size>4*KB)