diff -r 10c3d1527e88 Lib/test/test_file2k.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_file2k.py	Sat May 14 07:25:37 2016 +0000
+++ b/Lib/test/test_file2k.py	Sun May 15 17:43:58 2016 +0200
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     threading = None
 
 from test import test_support
-from test.test_support import TESTFN, run_unittest, requires
+from test.test_support import TESTFN, run_unittest, requires, precisionbigmemtest, _2G
 from UserList import UserList
 
 class AutoFileTests(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -463,6 +463,28 @@
         self.assertEqual(l.count("\0"), size)
         l = None
 
+    @precisionbigmemtest(size=_2G, memuse=1, dry_run=False)
+    def testFileReadIsEightBytes(self, maxsize):
+        read_size = 2 ** 31
+        if maxsize < read_size:
+            return
+
+        f = open(TESTFN, 'wt')
+        f.write('a' * 1000)
+        f.close()
+
+        f = open(TESTFN, 'rt')
+        # file.read() should always accept
+        # an eight-byte int as its buffersize parameter.
+        try:
+            data = f.read(read_size)
+        except OverflowError:
+            self.fail("should never get overflow error!")
+        except MemoryError:
+            # this is fine, this means parsing succeeded
+            # but allocating the buffer failed
+            pass
+
 class FileSubclassTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def testExit(self):
diff -r 10c3d1527e88 Objects/fileobject.c
--- a/Objects/fileobject.c	Sat May 14 07:25:37 2016 +0000
+++ b/Objects/fileobject.c	Sun May 15 17:43:58 2016 +0200
@@ -1049,7 +1049,7 @@
 static PyObject *
 file_read(PyFileObject *f, PyObject *args)
 {
-    long bytesrequested = -1;
+    Py_ssize_t bytesrequested = -1;
     size_t bytesread, buffersize, chunksize;
     PyObject *v;
 
@@ -1062,17 +1062,12 @@
         (f->f_bufend - f->f_bufptr) > 0 &&
         f->f_buf[0] != '\0')
         return err_iterbuffered();
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|l:read", &bytesrequested))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|n:read", &bytesrequested))
         return NULL;
     if (bytesrequested < 0)
         buffersize = new_buffersize(f, (size_t)0);
     else
         buffersize = bytesrequested;
-    if (buffersize > PY_SSIZE_T_MAX) {
-        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError,
-    "requested number of bytes is more than a Python string can hold");
-        return NULL;
-    }
     v = PyString_FromStringAndSize((char *)NULL, buffersize);
     if (v == NULL)
         return NULL;