diff --git a/src/gufi_vt.c b/src/gufi_vt.c
index 705ee66e0..920bd6334 100644
--- a/src/gufi_vt.c
+++ b/src/gufi_vt.c
@@ -205,45 +205,37 @@ static const size_t TL = sizeof(char) + sizeof(size_t);
 
 /* read TLV rows terminated by newline - this only works because type is in the range [1, 5] */
 static int gufi_query_read_row(gufi_vtab_cursor *pCur) {
-    size_t size = sizeof(int);
-    char *buf = malloc(size);
+    static const size_t row_prefix = sizeof(size_t) + sizeof(int);
+    char *buf = NULL;
     char *curr = buf;
-    ptrdiff_t curr_offset = 0;
 
     size_t *starts = NULL; /* index of where each column starts in buf */
-    int count = 0;         /* number of columns */
+    size_t row_len = 0;
+    int count = 0;
 
-    // each row is prefixed with a count
-    if (fread(curr, sizeof(char), sizeof(int), pCur->output) != sizeof(int)) {
+    /* row length */
+    if (fread(&row_len, sizeof(char), sizeof(row_len), pCur->output) != sizeof(row_len)) {
+        if (ferror(pCur->output)) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "Error: Could not read row length\n");
+        }
         goto error;
     }
 
-    count = * (int *) curr;
-    starts = malloc(count * sizeof(size_t));
+    /* column count */
+    if (fread(&count, sizeof(char), sizeof(count), pCur->output) != sizeof(count)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Error: Could not read column count\n");
+        goto error;
+    }
 
-    curr += sizeof(int);
+    /* buf does not contain row prefix */
+    buf = malloc(row_len - row_prefix);
+    curr = buf;
+    starts = malloc(count * sizeof(size_t));
 
-    char *new_buf = NULL;
     for(int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+        /* column start points to type */
         starts[i] = curr - buf;
 
-        /* add space for type and length */
-        size += TL;
-
-        curr_offset = curr - buf;
-
-        /* reallocate buffer for type and length */
-        new_buf = realloc(buf, size);
-        if (!new_buf) {
-            const int err = errno;
-            fprintf(stderr, "Error: Could not resize buffer for reading column type and length. New size: %zu: %s (%d)\n",
-                    size, strerror(err), err);
-            goto error;
-        }
-
-        buf = new_buf;
-        curr = buf + curr_offset;
-
         /* read type and length */
         const size_t tl = fread(curr, sizeof(char), TL, pCur->output);
         if (tl != TL) {
@@ -253,26 +245,11 @@ static int gufi_query_read_row(gufi_vtab_cursor *pCur) {
 
         const size_t value_len = * (size_t *) (curr + sizeof(char));
 
-        size += value_len;         /* update buffer size with value length */
-        curr += TL;                /* to go to end of buffer/start of value */
-
-        curr_offset = curr - buf;
-
-        /* allocate space for value */
-        new_buf = realloc(buf, size);
-        if (!new_buf) {
-            const int err = errno;
-            fprintf(stderr, "Error: Could not resize buffer for reading column value. New size: %zu: %s (%d)\n",
-                    size, strerror(err), err);
-            goto error;
-        }
-
-        buf = new_buf;
-        curr = buf + curr_offset;
+        curr += TL;   /* to go to start of value */
 
         const size_t v = fread(curr, sizeof(char), value_len, pCur->output);
         if (v != value_len) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "Eror: Could not read %zu octets. Got %zu\n", value_len, v);
+            fprintf(stderr, "Error: Could not read %zu octets. Got %zu\n", value_len, v);
             goto error;
         }
 
@@ -280,7 +257,7 @@ static int gufi_query_read_row(gufi_vtab_cursor *pCur) {
     }
 
     pCur->row = buf;
-    pCur->len = size;
+    pCur->len = row_len;
     pCur->col_starts = starts;
     pCur->col_count = count;
 
diff --git a/src/print.c b/src/print.c
index 5af32b810..58ca61102 100644
--- a/src/print.c
+++ b/src/print.c
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ int print_parallel(void *args, int count, char **data, char **columns) {
     }
 
     if (types) {
-        row_len += sizeof(count);                            /* start row with column count */
+        row_len += sizeof(row_len) + sizeof(count);          /* start row with row length and column count */
         row_len += count * (sizeof(char) + sizeof(size_t));  /* type and length per column */
     }
     else {
@@ -111,8 +111,11 @@ int print_parallel(void *args, int count, char **data, char **columns) {
             pthread_mutex_lock(print->mutex);
         }
 
-        /* write column count */
         if (types) {
+            /* write total row length */
+            fwrite(&row_len, sizeof(char), sizeof(row_len), print->outfile);
+
+            /* write column count */
             fwrite(&count, sizeof(char), sizeof(count), print->outfile);
         }
 
@@ -163,8 +166,12 @@ int print_parallel(void *args, int count, char **data, char **columns) {
         char *buf = ob->buf;
         size_t filled = ob->filled;
 
-        /* write column count */
         if (types) {
+            /* write row length */
+            memcpy(&buf[filled], &row_len, sizeof(row_len));
+            filled += sizeof(row_len);
+
+            /* write column count */
             memcpy(&buf[filled], &count, sizeof(count));
             filled += sizeof(count);
         }
diff --git a/test/regression/gufi_query.expected b/test/regression/gufi_query.expected
index 7cee5d1f2..6fbab9452 100644
--- a/test/regression/gufi_query.expected
+++ b/test/regression/gufi_query.expected
@@ -222,16 +222,17 @@ prefix/unusual#? directory ,/unusual, name?#
 
 # Output TLV columns (no aggregation)
 $ gufi_query -u -n 2 -E "SELECT name, size FROM vrpentries WHERE name == '.hidden';" "prefix" | od -x --endian=big
-0000000 0200 0000 0307 0000 0000 0000 002e 6869
-0000020 6464 656e 0102 0000 0000 0000 0031 3000
-0000037
+0000000 2700 0000 0000 0000 0200 0000 0307 0000
+0000020 0000 0000 002e 6869 6464 656e 0102 0000
+0000040 0000 0000 0031 3000
+0000047
 
 # Output TLV columns (with aggregation)
 $ gufi_query -u -d " " -n 2 -a -I "CREATE TABLE out(path TEXT, size INT64);" -K "CREATE TABLE aggregate(path TEXT, size INT64);" -S "INSERT INTO out SELECT rpath(sname, sroll), size FROM vrsummary;" -E "INSERT INTO out SELECT rpath(sname, sroll) || '/' || name, size FROM vrpentries;" -J "INSERT INTO aggregate SELECT path, size FROM out;" -G "SELECT path, size FROM aggregate ORDER BY path ASC LIMIT 1;" "prefix" | od -x --endian=big
-0000000 0200 0000 030d 0000 0000 0000 0073 6561
-0000020 7263 682f 7072 6566 6978 0102 0000 0000
-0000040 0000 0031 3700
-0000045
+0000000 2d00 0000 0000 0000 0200 0000 030d 0000
+0000020 0000 0000 0073 6561 7263 682f 7072 6566
+0000040 6978 0102 0000 0000 0000 0031 3700
+0000055
 
 #####################################
 # Invalid Inputs                    #
diff --git a/test/unit/googletest/print.cpp b/test/unit/googletest/print.cpp
index 03f062784..f96fe5b3d 100644
--- a/test/unit/googletest/print.cpp
+++ b/test/unit/googletest/print.cpp
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ static void print_parallel_tlv_actual(const bool use_len) {
     };
 
     const std::size_t total_len =
+        sizeof(std::size_t) +       // row length
         sizeof(int) +               // number of columns
         INTEGER.size() + FLOAT.size() + TEXT.size() +
         BLOB.size() + NULL_.size() + DATE.size() +
@@ -242,6 +243,10 @@ static void print_parallel_tlv_actual(const bool use_len) {
 
     char *curr = buf;
 
+    // column_count
+    EXPECT_EQ((std::size_t) * (int *) curr, total_len);
+    curr += sizeof(std::size_t);
+
     // column_count
     EXPECT_EQ((std::size_t) * (int *) curr, COL_COUNT);
     curr += sizeof(int);