diff --git a/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c b/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c
index b6a3f1e0e..9769f5364 100644
--- a/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c
+++ b/src/modules/module-protocol-pulse/pulse-server.c
@@ -1550,6 +1550,10 @@ static void stream_process(void *data)
 			size = SPA_MIN(buf->datas[0].maxsize, minreq);
 			memset(p, 0, size);
 
+			/* skip the remainder, avail can be negative and thus
+			 * we can skip a lot here. */
+			size = (int32_t)minreq - avail;
+
 			if (stream->draining) {
 				stream->draining = false;
 				pw_stream_flush(stream->stream, true);