diff --git a/doc/api/stream.md b/doc/api/stream.md
index b6da7d98a1f94d..2d437c0eacef3b 100644
--- a/doc/api/stream.md
+++ b/doc/api/stream.md
@@ -1010,6 +1010,8 @@ buffer will be returned.
 If the `size` argument is not specified, all of the data contained in the
 internal buffer will be returned.
 
+The `size` argument must be less than or equal to 1 GB.
+
 The `readable.read()` method should only be called on `Readable` streams
 operating in paused mode. In flowing mode, `readable.read()` is called
 automatically until the internal buffer is fully drained.
diff --git a/lib/_stream_readable.js b/lib/_stream_readable.js
index 52bc5019103ea2..98216b411f5862 100644
--- a/lib/_stream_readable.js
+++ b/lib/_stream_readable.js
@@ -340,10 +340,11 @@ Readable.prototype.setEncoding = function(enc) {
   return this;
 };
 
-// Don't raise the hwm > 8MB
-const MAX_HWM = 0x800000;
+// Don't raise the hwm > 1GB
+const MAX_HWM = 0x40000000;
 function computeNewHighWaterMark(n) {
   if (n >= MAX_HWM) {
+    // TODO(ronag): Throw ERR_VALUE_OUT_OF_RANGE.
     n = MAX_HWM;
   } else {
     // Get the next highest power of 2 to prevent increasing hwm excessively in
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-readable-large-hwm.js b/test/parallel/test-readable-large-hwm.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..d5bf25bc0e61c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-readable-large-hwm.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const { Readable } = require('stream');
+
+// Make sure that readable completes
+// even when reading larger buffer.
+const bufferSize = 10 * 1024 * 1024;
+let n = 0;
+const r = new Readable({
+  read() {
+    // Try to fill readable buffer piece by piece.
+    r.push(Buffer.alloc(bufferSize / 10));
+
+    if (n++ > 10) {
+      r.push(null);
+    }
+  }
+});
+
+r.on('readable', () => {
+  while (true) {
+    const ret = r.read(bufferSize);
+    if (ret === null)
+      break;
+  }
+});
+r.on('end', common.mustCall());