diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE
index e41c5a074..41726182f 100644
--- a/ANNOUNCE
+++ b/ANNOUNCE
@@ -107,7 +107,8 @@ Version 1.6.19rc01 [October 23, 2015]
   No changes.
 
 Version 1.6.19rc02 [October 30, 2015]
-  Prevent reading or writing over-length PLTE chunk (Cosmin Truta).
+  Prevent setting or writing over-length PLTE chunk (Cosmin Truta).
+  Silently truncate over-length PLTE chunk while reading.
 
 Send comments/corrections/commendations to png-mng-implement at lists.sf.net
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diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 7c9977e15..e15f58b92 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -5392,7 +5392,8 @@ Version 1.6.19rc01 [October 23, 2015]
   No changes.
 
 Version 1.6.19rc02 [October 30, 2015]
-  Prevent reading or writing over-length PLTE chunk (Cosmin Truta).
+  Prevent setting or writing over-length PLTE chunk (Cosmin Truta).
+  Silently truncate over-length PLTE chunk while reading.
 
 Send comments/corrections/commendations to png-mng-implement at lists.sf.net
 (subscription required; visit
diff --git a/pngrutil.c b/pngrutil.c
index babf5c02d..6d35445ed 100644
--- a/pngrutil.c
+++ b/pngrutil.c
@@ -872,7 +872,7 @@ void /* PRIVATE */
 png_handle_PLTE(png_structrp png_ptr, png_inforp info_ptr, png_uint_32 length)
 {
    png_color palette[PNG_MAX_PALETTE_LENGTH];
-   int num, i;
+   int max_palette_length, num, i;
 #ifdef PNG_POINTER_INDEXING_SUPPORTED
    png_colorp pal_ptr;
 #endif
@@ -930,9 +930,19 @@ png_handle_PLTE(png_structrp png_ptr, png_inforp info_ptr, png_uint_32 length)
       return;
    }
 
+   max_palette_length = (png_ptr->color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_PALETTE) ?
+      (1 << png_ptr->bit_depth) : PNG_MAX_PALETTE_LENGTH;
+
    /* The cast is safe because 'length' is less than 3*PNG_MAX_PALETTE_LENGTH */
    num = (int)length / 3;
 
+   /* If the palette has 256 or fewer entries but is too large for the bit depth,
+    * we don't issue an error, to preserve the behavior of previous libpng versions.
+    * We silently truncate the unused extra palette entries here.
+    */
+   if (num > max_palette_length)
+     num = max_palette_length;
+
 #ifdef PNG_POINTER_INDEXING_SUPPORTED
    for (i = 0, pal_ptr = palette; i < num; i++, pal_ptr++)
    {
@@ -1002,9 +1012,6 @@ png_handle_PLTE(png_structrp png_ptr, png_inforp info_ptr, png_uint_32 length)
     * confusing.
     *
     * Fix this by not sharing the palette in this way.
-    *
-    * Starting with libpng-1.6.19, png_set_PLTE() also issues a png_error() when
-    * it attempts to set a palette length that is too large for the bit depth.
     */
    png_set_PLTE(png_ptr, info_ptr, palette, num);
 
diff --git a/pngset.c b/pngset.c
index 0629d94e9..8dcf18afc 100644
--- a/pngset.c
+++ b/pngset.c
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ png_set_PLTE(png_structrp png_ptr, png_inforp info_ptr,
    max_palette_length = (png_ptr->color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_PALETTE) ?
       (1 << png_ptr->bit_depth) : PNG_MAX_PALETTE_LENGTH;
 
-   if (num_palette < 0 || num_palette > max_palette_length)
+   if (num_palette < 0 || num_palette > (int) max_palette_length)
    {
       if (info_ptr->color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_PALETTE)
          png_error(png_ptr, "Invalid palette length");