diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BasePostingsFormatTestCase.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BasePostingsFormatTestCase.java
index 2fb91ce7bf7..2273029f3b5 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BasePostingsFormatTestCase.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BasePostingsFormatTestCase.java
@@ -226,9 +226,9 @@ public abstract class BasePostingsFormatTestCase extends LuceneTestCase {
         int payloadSize;
         if (random().nextInt(10) == 7) {
           // 10% of the time create big payloads:
-          payloadSize = random().nextInt(50);
+          payloadSize = 1 + random().nextInt(3);
         } else {
-          payloadSize = random().nextInt(10);
+          payloadSize = 1 + random().nextInt(1);
         }
 
         boolean fixedPayloads = random().nextBoolean();