diff --git a/src/xheader.c b/src/xheader.c
index c8c54b6..ff5c9c3 100644
--- a/src/xheader.c
+++ b/src/xheader.c
@@ -1305,7 +1305,17 @@ size_decoder (struct tar_stat_info *st,
 {
   uintmax_t u;
   if (decode_num (&u, arg, TYPE_MAXIMUM (off_t), keyword))
-    st->stat.st_size = u;
+    {
+      if (u > st->stat.st_size)
+	/* Do *not* overwrite stat.st_size when it has been set by
+	   GNU.sparse.realsize (func sparse_size_decoder) already. */
+	st->stat.st_size = u;
+
+      /* Inherit the effective size from extended header.  This is needed
+	 especially for sparse files - they coul'd have zero value otherwise
+	 inherited from default (non-extended) header field */
+      st->archive_file_size = u;
+    }
 }
 
 static void