diff --git oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriter.java oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriter.java
index 0cc806c192..92d6de9e29 100644
--- oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriter.java
+++ oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriter.java
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ public class DefaultSegmentWriter implements SegmentWriter {
     private static final int CHILD_NODE_UPDATE_LIMIT = Integer
             .getInteger("child.node.update.limit", 10000);
 
+    protected static final String MAX_MAP_RECORD_SIZE_KEY = "oak.segmentNodeStore.maxMapRecordSize";
+
     @NotNull
     private final WriterCacheManager cacheManager;
 
@@ -237,6 +239,11 @@ public class DefaultSegmentWriter implements SegmentWriter {
 
         private RecordId writeMap(@Nullable MapRecord base, @NotNull Map<String, RecordId> changes) throws IOException {
             if (base != null) {
+                int maxMapRecordSize = Integer.getInteger(MAX_MAP_RECORD_SIZE_KEY, 0);
+                if (base.size() > maxMapRecordSize) {
+                    System.setProperty(MAX_MAP_RECORD_SIZE_KEY, String.valueOf(base.size()));
+                }
+
                 if (base.size() >= MapRecord.WARN_SIZE) {
                     if (base.size() >= MapRecord.ERROR_SIZE_HARD_STOP) {
                         throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Map record has more than " + MapRecord.ERROR_SIZE_HARD_STOP
diff --git oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriterTest.java oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriterTest.java
index b968fb1f78..d707b52feb 100644
--- oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriterTest.java
+++ oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/DefaultSegmentWriterTest.java
@@ -309,6 +309,25 @@ public class DefaultSegmentWriterTest {
         unsubscribe(logAppender);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testMapRecordMaxSizeSystemProperty() throws IOException {
+        System.setProperty(DefaultSegmentWriter.MAX_MAP_RECORD_SIZE_KEY, String.valueOf(0));
+
+        RecordId blockId = writer.writeBlock(bytes, 0, bytes.length);
+        Map<String, RecordId> map = newHashMap();
+        for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
+            map.put("key" + i, blockId);
+        }
+
+        // write first a map record with 1000 entries
+        MapRecord many = new MapRecord(store.fileStore().getReader(), writer.writeMap(null, map));
+
+        // update it by adding one more entry
+        MapRecord one = new MapRecord(store.fileStore().getReader(), writer.writeMap(many, ImmutableMap.of("one", blockId)));
+
+        assertEquals(1000, (int) Integer.getInteger(DefaultSegmentWriter.MAX_MAP_RECORD_SIZE_KEY, 0));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testMapRemoveNonExisting() throws IOException {
         RecordId blockId = writer.writeBlock(bytes, 0, bytes.length);