diff --git a/src/os.cc b/src/os.cc
index 4840a658..f0e71aac 100644
--- a/src/os.cc
+++ b/src/os.cc
@@ -383,7 +383,9 @@ void ostream::grow(buffer<char>& buf, size_t) {
 
 ostream::ostream(cstring_view path, const detail::ostream_params& params)
     : buffer<char>(grow), file_(path, params.oflag) {
-  set(new char[params.buffer_size], params.buffer_size);
+  // grow() can only make room by flushing, so the buffer can't be empty.
+  size_t size = max_of<size_t>(params.buffer_size, 1);
+  set(new char[size], size);
 }
 
 ostream::ostream(ostream&& other) noexcept
diff --git a/test/os-test.cc b/test/os-test.cc
index 5bc9f7eb..24f96ed9 100644
--- a/test/os-test.cc
+++ b/test/os-test.cc
@@ -295,6 +295,15 @@ TEST(ostream_test, buffer_size) {
   EXPECT_READ(in, "foo");
 }
 
+TEST(ostream_test, zero_buffer_size) {
+  auto test_file = uniq_file_name(__LINE__);
+  fmt::ostream out = fmt::output_file(test_file, fmt::buffer_size = 0);
+  out.print("{}{}", 'f', "oo");
+  out.close();
+  file in(test_file, file::RDONLY);
+  EXPECT_READ(in, "foo");
+}
+
 TEST(ostream_test, truncate) {
   auto test_file = uniq_file_name(__LINE__);
   {