diff --git a/io/LasHeader.cpp b/io/LasHeader.cpp
index 02da92f0d7..94c23ae85f 100644
--- a/io/LasHeader.cpp
+++ b/io/LasHeader.cpp
@@ -398,8 +398,11 @@ ILeStream& operator>>(ILeStream& in, LasHeader& h)
         throw LasHeader::error("Invalid point count. Number of points exceeds file size.");
     if (h.m_vlrOffset > h.m_fileSize)
         throw LasHeader::error("Invalid VLR offset - exceeds file size.");
+    // There was a bug in PDAL where it didn't write the VLR offset :(
+    /**
     if (h.m_eVlrOffset > h.m_fileSize)
         throw LasHeader::error("Invalid extended VLR offset - exceeds file size.");
+    **/
 
     // Read regular VLRs.
     in.seek(h.m_vlrOffset);
diff --git a/io/LasReader.cpp b/io/LasReader.cpp
index a1834e5857..851564ef36 100644
--- a/io/LasReader.cpp
+++ b/io/LasReader.cpp
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ void LasReader::initializeLocal(PointTableRef table, MetadataNode& m)
         throwError(err.what());
     }
 
-    m_p->header.initialize(log(), FileUtils::fileSize(m_filename));
+    m_p->header.initialize(log(), Utils::fileSize(m_filename));
     createStream();
     std::istream *stream(m_streamIf->m_istream);
 
diff --git a/kernels/InfoKernel.cpp b/kernels/InfoKernel.cpp
index 20f9b9cfe4..ac81573847 100644
--- a/kernels/InfoKernel.cpp
+++ b/kernels/InfoKernel.cpp
@@ -253,9 +253,9 @@ MetadataNode InfoKernel::run(const std::string& filename)
     root.add("reader", m_reader->getName());
     root.add("now", t.str());
     
-    if (pdal::FileUtils::fileExists(filename) &&
-            (!pdal::FileUtils::isDirectory(filename))) // allow for s3 uris and directories
-        root.add("file_size", pdal::FileUtils::fileSize(filename));
+    uintmax_t size = Utils::fileSize(filename);
+    if (size)
+        root.add("file_size", size);
     
     return root;
 }
diff --git a/pdal/PDALUtils.cpp b/pdal/PDALUtils.cpp
index 3293dfe242..fec5e679cb 100644
--- a/pdal/PDALUtils.cpp
+++ b/pdal/PDALUtils.cpp
@@ -241,6 +241,20 @@ class ArbiterInStream : public std::ifstream
 
 }  // unnamed namespace
 
+uintmax_t fileSize(const std::string& path)
+{
+    uintmax_t size = 0;
+    if (isRemote(path))
+    {
+        std::unique_ptr<std::size_t> pSize = arbiter::Arbiter().tryGetSize(path);
+        if (pSize)
+            size = *pSize;
+    }
+    else
+        size = FileUtils::fileSize(path);
+    return size;
+}
+
 /**
   Create a file (may be on a supported remote filesystem).
 
diff --git a/pdal/PDALUtils.hpp b/pdal/PDALUtils.hpp
index bc4274c6bd..9e43624cfa 100644
--- a/pdal/PDALUtils.hpp
+++ b/pdal/PDALUtils.hpp
@@ -264,6 +264,7 @@ inline void writeProgress(int fd, const std::string& type,
 std::string dllDir();
 std::string PDAL_DLL toJSON(const MetadataNode& m);
 void PDAL_DLL toJSON(const MetadataNode& m, std::ostream& o);
+uintmax_t PDAL_DLL fileSize(const std::string& path);
 std::istream PDAL_DLL *openFile(const std::string& path, bool asBinary = true);
 std::ostream PDAL_DLL *createFile(const std::string& path,
     bool asBinary = true);
diff --git a/pdal/util/FileUtils.cpp b/pdal/util/FileUtils.cpp
index 883cb06b24..e98b838da5 100644
--- a/pdal/util/FileUtils.cpp
+++ b/pdal/util/FileUtils.cpp
@@ -255,7 +255,8 @@ bool fileExists(const std::string& name)
 
 uintmax_t fileSize(const std::string& file)
 {
-    return pdalboost::filesystem::file_size(toNative(file));
+    pdalboost::system::error_code ec;
+    return pdalboost::filesystem::file_size(toNative(file), ec);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/vendor/arbiter/arbiter.cpp b/vendor/arbiter/arbiter.cpp
index 5ad2affa3b..204cbfb32d 100644
--- a/vendor/arbiter/arbiter.cpp
+++ b/vendor/arbiter/arbiter.cpp
@@ -99,6 +99,27 @@ namespace
 
         return merge(in, config);
     }
+
+    inline bool iequals(const std::string& s, const std::string& s2)
+    {
+        if (s.length() != s2.length())
+            return false;
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < s.length(); ++i)
+            if (std::toupper(s[i]) != std::toupper(s2[i]))
+                return false;
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    inline bool findEntry(const StringMap& map, const std::string& key, std::string& val)
+    {
+        for (auto& p : map)
+            if (iequals(p.first, key))
+            {
+                val = p.second;
+                return true;
+            }
+        return false;
+    }
 }
 
 Arbiter::Arbiter() : Arbiter(json().dump()) { }
@@ -1366,11 +1387,9 @@ std::unique_ptr<std::size_t> Http::tryGetSize(std::string path) const
     auto http(m_pool.acquire());
     Response res(http.head(typedPath(path)));
 
-    if (res.ok() && res.headers().count("Content-Length"))
-    {
-        const std::string& str(res.headers().at("Content-Length"));
-        size.reset(new std::size_t(std::stoul(str)));
-    }
+    std::string val;
+    if (res.ok() && findEntry(res.headers(), "Content-Length", val))
+        size.reset(new std::size_t(std::stoul(val)));
 
     return size;
 }
@@ -2572,19 +2591,9 @@ std::unique_ptr<std::size_t> Google::tryGetSize(const std::string path) const
     const auto res(
             https.internalHead(resource.endpoint(), headers, altMediaQuery));
 
-    if (res.ok())
-    {
-        if (res.headers().count("Content-Length"))
-        {
-            const auto& s(res.headers().at("Content-Length"));
-            return makeUnique<std::size_t>(std::stoull(s));
-        }
-        else if (res.headers().count("content-length"))
-        {
-            const auto& s(res.headers().at("content-length"));
-            return makeUnique<std::size_t>(std::stoull(s));
-        }
-    }
+    std::string val;
+    if (res.ok() && findEntry(res.headers(), "Content-Length", val))
+            return makeUnique<std::size_t>(std::stoull(val));
 
     return std::unique_ptr<std::size_t>();
 }