diff --git a/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdfwriter/COSWriter.java b/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdfwriter/COSWriter.java
index f49a20d8ce0..a8e910f53fd 100644
--- a/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdfwriter/COSWriter.java
+++ b/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdfwriter/COSWriter.java
@@ -866,7 +866,7 @@ private void doWriteIncrement() throws IOException
         {
             input.transferTo(incrementalOutput);
             // write the actual incremental update
-            incrementalOutput.write(((ByteArrayOutputStream) output).toByteArray());
+            ((ByteArrayOutputStream) output).writeTo(incrementalOutput);
         }
     }