diff --git a/stream/stream.c b/stream/stream.c
index ad79b2aa34..5cca42e2a4 100644
--- a/stream/stream.c
+++ b/stream/stream.c
@@ -354,6 +354,7 @@ static int stream_create_instance(const stream_info_t *sinfo,
     s->path = talloc_strdup(s, path);
     s->mode = flags & (STREAM_READ | STREAM_WRITE);
     s->requested_buffer_size = opts->buffer_size;
+    s->allow_partial_read = flags & STREAM_ALLOW_PARTIAL_READ;
 
     if (flags & STREAM_LESS_NOISE)
         mp_msg_set_max_level(s->log, MSGL_WARN);
@@ -802,7 +803,9 @@ int stream_skip_bom(struct stream *s)
 // Read the rest of the stream into memory (current pos to EOF), and return it.
 //  talloc_ctx: used as talloc parent for the returned allocation
 //  max_size: must be set to >0. If the file is larger than that, it is treated
-//            as error. This is a minor robustness measure.
+//            as error. This is a minor robustness measure. If the stream is
+//            created with STREAM_ALLOW_PARTIAL_READ flag, partial result up to
+//            max_size is returned instead.
 //  returns: stream contents, or .start/.len set to NULL on error
 // If the file was empty, but no error happened, .start will be non-NULL and
 // .len will be 0.
@@ -821,16 +824,22 @@ struct bstr stream_read_complete(struct stream *s, void *talloc_ctx,
     int padding = 1;
     char *buf = NULL;
     int64_t size = stream_get_size(s) - stream_tell(s);
-    if (size > max_size)
+    if (size > max_size && !s->allow_partial_read)
         return (struct bstr){NULL, 0};
     if (size > 0)
         bufsize = size + padding;
     else
         bufsize = 1000;
+    if (s->allow_partial_read)
+        bufsize = MPMIN(bufsize, max_size + padding);
     while (1) {
         buf = talloc_realloc_size(talloc_ctx, buf, bufsize);
         int readsize = stream_read(s, buf + total_read, bufsize - total_read);
         total_read += readsize;
+        if (total_read >= max_size && s->allow_partial_read) {
+            total_read = max_size;
+            break;
+        }
         if (total_read < bufsize)
             break;
         if (bufsize > max_size) {
diff --git a/stream/stream.h b/stream/stream.h
index 9d68ca8e27..eb44e23a1f 100644
--- a/stream/stream.h
+++ b/stream/stream.h
@@ -38,21 +38,22 @@
 // flags for stream_open_ext (this includes STREAM_READ and STREAM_WRITE)
 
 // stream->mode
-#define STREAM_READ             0
-#define STREAM_WRITE            (1 << 0)
+#define STREAM_READ               0
+#define STREAM_WRITE              (1 << 0)
 
-#define STREAM_SILENT           (1 << 1)
+#define STREAM_SILENT             (1 << 1)
 
 // Origin value for "security". This is an integer within the flags bit-field.
-#define STREAM_ORIGIN_DIRECT    (1 << 2) // passed from cmdline or loadfile
-#define STREAM_ORIGIN_FS        (2 << 2) // referenced from playlist on unix FS
-#define STREAM_ORIGIN_NET       (3 << 2) // referenced from playlist on network
-#define STREAM_ORIGIN_UNSAFE    (4 << 2) // from a grotesque source
+#define STREAM_ORIGIN_DIRECT      (1 << 2) // passed from cmdline or loadfile
+#define STREAM_ORIGIN_FS          (2 << 2) // referenced from playlist on unix FS
+#define STREAM_ORIGIN_NET         (3 << 2) // referenced from playlist on network
+#define STREAM_ORIGIN_UNSAFE      (4 << 2) // from a grotesque source
 
-#define STREAM_ORIGIN_MASK      (7 << 2) // for extracting origin value from flags
+#define STREAM_ORIGIN_MASK        (7 << 2) // for extracting origin value from flags
 
-#define STREAM_LOCAL_FS_ONLY    (1 << 5) // stream_file only, no URLs
-#define STREAM_LESS_NOISE       (1 << 6) // try to log errors only
+#define STREAM_LOCAL_FS_ONLY      (1 << 5) // stream_file only, no URLs
+#define STREAM_LESS_NOISE         (1 << 6) // try to log errors only
+#define STREAM_ALLOW_PARTIAL_READ (1 << 7) // allows partial read with stream_read_file()
 
 // end flags for stream_open_ext (the naming convention sucks)
 
@@ -155,6 +156,7 @@ typedef struct stream {
     bool is_local_fs : 1; // from the filesystem
     bool is_directory : 1; // directory on the filesystem
     bool access_references : 1; // open other streams
+    bool allow_partial_read : 1; // allows partial read with stream_read_file()
     struct mp_log *log;
     struct mpv_global *global;