diff --git a/src/uu/tail/src/tail.rs b/src/uu/tail/src/tail.rs
index ee70f7ef188..6f169d3f4b5 100644
--- a/src/uu/tail/src/tail.rs
+++ b/src/uu/tail/src/tail.rs
@@ -1411,7 +1411,9 @@ fn bounded_tail(file: &mut File, settings: &Settings) {
             file.seek(SeekFrom::Start(i as u64)).unwrap();
         }
         (FilterMode::Bytes(count), false) => {
-            file.seek(SeekFrom::End(-(*count as i64))).unwrap();
+            let len = file.seek(SeekFrom::End(0)).unwrap();
+            file.seek(SeekFrom::End(-((*count).min(len) as i64)))
+                .unwrap();
         }
         (FilterMode::Bytes(count), true) => {
             // GNU `tail` seems to index bytes and lines starting at 1, not
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_tail.rs b/tests/by-util/test_tail.rs
index d4755a48832..6afd55f51d7 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_tail.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_tail.rs
@@ -2435,3 +2435,23 @@ fn test_illegal_seek() {
     );
     assert_eq!(p.wait().unwrap().code().unwrap(), 1);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn test_seek_bytes_backward_outside_file() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .arg("-c")
+        .arg("100")
+        .arg(FOOBAR_TXT)
+        .run()
+        .stdout_is_fixture(FOOBAR_TXT);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_seek_bytes_forward_outside_file() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .arg("-c")
+        .arg("+100")
+        .arg(FOOBAR_TXT)
+        .run()
+        .stdout_is("");
+}