diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java
index 5baca022a21..093e110cb82 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java
@@ -183,8 +183,15 @@ public final class IndexSettings {
         Setting.timeSetting("index.refresh_interval", DEFAULT_REFRESH_INTERVAL, new TimeValue(-1, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS),
             Property.Dynamic, Property.IndexScope);
     public static final Setting<ByteSizeValue> INDEX_TRANSLOG_FLUSH_THRESHOLD_SIZE_SETTING =
-        Setting.byteSizeSetting("index.translog.flush_threshold_size", new ByteSizeValue(512, ByteSizeUnit.MB), Property.Dynamic,
-            Property.IndexScope);
+        Setting.byteSizeSetting("index.translog.flush_threshold_size", new ByteSizeValue(512, ByteSizeUnit.MB),
+            /*
+             * An empty translog occupies 43 bytes on disk. If the flush threshold is below this, the flush thread
+             * can get stuck in an infinite loop as the shouldPeriodicallyFlush can still be true after flushing.
+             * However, small thresholds are useful for testing so we do not add a large lower bound here.
+             */
+            new ByteSizeValue(Translog.DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE_IN_BYTES + 1, ByteSizeUnit.BYTES),
+            new ByteSizeValue(Long.MAX_VALUE, ByteSizeUnit.BYTES),
+            Property.Dynamic, Property.IndexScope);
 
     /**
      * Controls how long translog files that are no longer needed for persistence reasons
@@ -219,9 +226,9 @@ public final class IndexSettings {
                      * generation threshold. However, small thresholds are useful for testing so we
                      * do not add a large lower bound here.
                      */
-                    new ByteSizeValue(64, ByteSizeUnit.BYTES),
+                    new ByteSizeValue(Translog.DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE_IN_BYTES + 1, ByteSizeUnit.BYTES),
                     new ByteSizeValue(Long.MAX_VALUE, ByteSizeUnit.BYTES),
-                    new Property[]{Property.Dynamic, Property.IndexScope});
+                    Property.Dynamic, Property.IndexScope);
 
     /**
      * Index setting to enable / disable deletes garbage collection.
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
index b01ef12d647..a447a1d123e 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
@@ -1470,6 +1470,8 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
         if (uncommittedSizeOfCurrentCommit < flushThreshold) {
             return false;
         }
+        assert translog.uncommittedOperations() > 0 : "translog required to flush periodically but not contain any uncommitted operation; "
+            + "uncommitted translog size [" + uncommittedSizeOfCurrentCommit + "], flush threshold [" + flushThreshold + "]";
         /*
          * We should only flush ony if the shouldFlush condition can become false after flushing.
          * This condition will change if the `uncommittedSize` of the new commit is smaller than
@@ -1477,14 +1479,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
          * thus the IndexWriter#hasUncommittedChanges condition is not considered.
          */
         final long uncommittedSizeOfNewCommit = translog.sizeOfGensAboveSeqNoInBytes(localCheckpointTracker.getCheckpoint() + 1);
-        /*
-         * If flushThreshold is too small, we may repeatedly flush even there is no uncommitted operation
-         * as #sizeOfGensAboveSeqNoInByte and #uncommittedSizeInBytes can return different values.
-         * An empty translog file has non-zero `uncommittedSize` (the translog header), and method #sizeOfGensAboveSeqNoInBytes can
-         * return 0 now(no translog gen contains ops above local checkpoint) but method #uncommittedSizeInBytes will return an actual
-         * non-zero value after rolling a new translog generation. This can be avoided by checking the actual uncommitted operations.
-         */
-        return uncommittedSizeOfNewCommit < uncommittedSizeOfCurrentCommit && translog.uncommittedOperations() > 0;
+        return uncommittedSizeOfNewCommit < uncommittedSizeOfCurrentCommit;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
index 3cbc8fc5305..c2c7ec7e255 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ public class Translog extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndexShardC
     public static final String CHECKPOINT_FILE_NAME = "translog" + CHECKPOINT_SUFFIX;
 
     static final Pattern PARSE_STRICT_ID_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^" + TRANSLOG_FILE_PREFIX + "(\\d+)(\\.tlog)$");
+    public static final int DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE_IN_BYTES = TranslogWriter.getHeaderLength(UUIDs.randomBase64UUID());
 
     // the list of translog readers is guaranteed to be in order of translog generation
     private final List<TranslogReader> readers = new ArrayList<>();
@@ -451,7 +452,10 @@ public class Translog extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndexShardC
      * @throws IOException if creating the translog failed
      */
     TranslogWriter createWriter(long fileGeneration) throws IOException {
-        return createWriter(fileGeneration, getMinFileGeneration(), globalCheckpointSupplier.getAsLong());
+        final TranslogWriter writer = createWriter(fileGeneration, getMinFileGeneration(), globalCheckpointSupplier.getAsLong());
+        assert writer.sizeInBytes() == DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE_IN_BYTES : "Mismatch translog header size; " +
+            "empty translog size [" + writer.sizeInBytes() + ", header size [" + DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE_IN_BYTES + "]";
+        return writer;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardIT.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardIT.java
index 601eb8e9b1d..dbbf4bac327 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardIT.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardIT.java
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ public class IndexShardIT extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
         });
         assertEquals(0, translog.uncommittedOperations());
         translog.sync();
-        long size = translog.uncommittedSizeInBytes();
+        long size = Math.max(translog.uncommittedSizeInBytes(), Translog.DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE_IN_BYTES + 1);
         logger.info("--> current translog size: [{}] num_ops [{}] generation [{}]", translog.uncommittedSizeInBytes(),
             translog.uncommittedOperations(), translog.getGeneration());
         client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test").setSettings(Settings.builder().put(