diff --git a/autoload/tagbar.vim b/autoload/tagbar.vim
index 26c6a9d..1138204 100644
--- a/autoload/tagbar.vim
+++ b/autoload/tagbar.vim
@@ -1158,14 +1158,16 @@ function! s:ProcessFile(fname, ftype) abort
         return
     endif
 
-    " If the file size limit it set, then check the linecount to see if
+    " If the file size limit it set, then check the file size to see if
     " this file should be ignored or not.
     if g:tagbar_file_size_limit > 0
-        let linecount = line('$')
+        let linecount = getfsize(expand('%'))
         if linecount > g:tagbar_file_size_limit && !exists('b:tagbar_force_update')
-            call tagbar#debug#log('[ProcessFile] File size too large (' . linecount . ' lines) - limit set to ' . g:tagbar_file_size_limit)
+            call tagbar#debug#log('[ProcessFile] File size too large (' . linecount .
+                        \ ' bytes) - limit set to ' . g:tagbar_file_size_limit)
             if !exists('b:tagbar_file_exceeds_limit')
-                echom 'File size too large (' . linecount . ' lines) - Not processing file (see help for g:tagbar_file_size_limit).'
+                echom 'File size too large (' . linecount .
+                            \ ' bytes) - Not processing file (see help for g:tagbar_file_size_limit).'
                 let b:tagbar_file_exceeds_limit = 1
             endif
             return
diff --git a/doc/tagbar.txt b/doc/tagbar.txt
index b4bc11b..524ffc8 100644
--- a/doc/tagbar.txt
+++ b/doc/tagbar.txt
@@ -891,7 +891,7 @@ g:tagbar_file_size_limit~
 Default: 0
 
 By default, all files are processed by tagbar. Setting this value to non-zero
-will disable processing for any file with a line count greater than
+will disable processing for any file with a byte count greater than
 |g:tagbar_file_size_limit|. A message will be displayed once for a given buffer
 if the limit is exceeded. The file can be forcefully updated with the
 |tagbar#ForceUpdate()| function. If the value is set to 0, then the file will