diff --git a/lib/progress.c b/lib/progress.c
index 0fa5169936..2cebabc88c 100644
--- a/lib/progress.c
+++ b/lib/progress.c
@@ -345,8 +345,10 @@ void Curl_pgrsStartNow(struct Curl_easy *data)
 CURLcode Curl_pgrs_deliver_check(struct Curl_easy *data, size_t delta)
 {
   if(data->set.max_filesize &&
-     ((curl_off_t)delta > data->set.max_filesize - data->progress.deliver))
+     ((curl_off_t)delta > data->set.max_filesize - data->progress.deliver)) {
+    failf(data, "Would have exceeded max file size");
     return CURLE_FILESIZE_EXCEEDED;
+  }
   return CURLE_OK;
 }