diff --git a/file_entity.pages.inc b/file_entity.pages.inc
index 9c41ae94030a07b1e34a362b7ec6f795282d5e68..6b56b553b2d90ac9a7d9394e10e47c4e38d9321a 100644
--- a/file_entity.pages.inc
+++ b/file_entity.pages.inc
@@ -1297,7 +1297,7 @@ function file_entity_get_upload_validators(array $options = array()) {
     $max_filesize = min($max_filesize, $file_entity_max_filesize);
   }
 
-  if (!empty($options['max_filesize']) && $options['max_filesize'] < $max_filesize) {
+  if (!empty($options['max_filesize']) && parse_size($options['max_filesize']) < $max_filesize) {
     $max_filesize = parse_size($options['max_filesize']);
   }