diff --git a/libbeat/reader/readfile/line.go b/libbeat/reader/readfile/line.go
index 6f3e0d63525..84333392028 100644
--- a/libbeat/reader/readfile/line.go
+++ b/libbeat/reader/readfile/line.go
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ type LineReader struct {
 	inOffset   int // input buffer read offset
 	byteCount  int // number of bytes decoded from input buffer into output buffer
 	decoder    transform.Transformer
+
+	skippedByteCount int // number of bytes skipped, when the line is too long
 }
 
 // New creates a new reader object
@@ -106,8 +108,9 @@ func (r *LineReader) Next() ([]byte, int, error) {
 	}
 
 	// return and reset consumed bytes count
-	sz := r.byteCount
+	sz := r.byteCount + r.skippedByteCount
 	r.byteCount = 0
+	r.skippedByteCount = 0
 	return bytes, sz, nil
 }
 
@@ -148,8 +151,10 @@ func (r *LineReader) advance() error {
 		if r.maxBytes != 0 {
 			// If newLine is found, drop the lines longer than maxBytes
 			for idx != -1 && idx > r.maxBytes {
-				logp.Warn("Exceeded %d max bytes in line limit, skipped %d bytes line", r.maxBytes, idx)
-				err = r.inBuffer.Advance(idx + len(r.nl))
+				skipped := idx + len(r.nl)
+				r.skippedByteCount += skipped
+				logp.Warn("Exceeded %d max bytes in line limit, skipped %d bytes line", r.maxBytes, skipped)
+				err = r.inBuffer.Advance(skipped)
 				r.inBuffer.Reset()
 				r.inOffset = 0
 				idx = r.inBuffer.IndexFrom(r.inOffset, r.nl)
@@ -158,6 +163,7 @@ func (r *LineReader) advance() error {
 			// If newLine is not found and the incoming data buffer exceeded max bytes limit, then skip until the next newLine
 			if idx == -1 && r.inBuffer.Len() > r.maxBytes {
 				skipped, err := r.skipUntilNewLine(buf)
+				r.skippedByteCount += skipped
 				if err != nil {
 					logp.Err("Error skipping until new line, err: %v", err)
 					return err
@@ -216,7 +222,7 @@ func (r *LineReader) skipUntilNewLine(buf []byte) (int, error) {
 
 			if idx != -1 {
 				r.inBuffer.Append(buf[idx+len(r.nl) : n])
-				skipped += idx
+				skipped += idx + len(r.nl)
 			} else {
 				skipped += n
 			}