diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 36f43f9c..7317e997 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+5.3.4 (2018-01-04)
+------------------
+
+- Revert 5.3.3 changes to RandomAccessFile.setLength in NIOFileHandle ([#21](https://github.com/ome/ome-common-java/pull/21))
+
 5.3.3 (2017-10-20)
 ------------------
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/loci/common/NIOFileHandle.java b/src/main/java/loci/common/NIOFileHandle.java
index bf291b8b..d370e588 100644
--- a/src/main/java/loci/common/NIOFileHandle.java
+++ b/src/main/java/loci/common/NIOFileHandle.java
@@ -105,8 +105,6 @@ public class NIOFileHandle extends AbstractNIOHandle {
   /** The original length of the file. */
   private Long defaultLength;
 
-  private long effectiveLength;
-
   // -- Constructors --
 
   /**
@@ -123,7 +121,6 @@ public NIOFileHandle(File file, String mode, int bufferSize)
       mapMode = FileChannel.MapMode.READ_WRITE;
     }
     raf = new RandomAccessFile(file, mode);
-    effectiveLength = raf.length();
     channel = raf.getChannel();
     byteBufferProvider = new NIOByteBufferProvider(channel, mapMode);
     buffer(position, 0);
@@ -202,9 +199,8 @@ public int getBufferSize() {
   @Override
   public void setLength(long length) throws IOException {
     if (raf.length() < length) {
-      raf.setLength(length + getBufferSize());
+      raf.setLength(length);
     }
-    effectiveLength = length;
     raf.seek(length - 1);
     buffer = null;
   }
@@ -214,9 +210,6 @@ public void setLength(long length) throws IOException {
   /* @see IRandomAccess.close() */
   @Override
   public void close() throws IOException {
-    if (isReadWrite && channel.isOpen() && raf.length() != length()) {
-      raf.setLength(length());
-    }
     raf.close();
   }
 
@@ -232,7 +225,7 @@ public long length() throws IOException {
     if (defaultLength != null) {
       return defaultLength;
     }
-    return effectiveLength;
+    return raf.length();
   }
 
   /* @see IRandomAccess.getOrder() */