diff --git a/test/external/fuzz_shapetracker_size.py b/test/external/fuzz_shapetracker_size.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dc76f3aecd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/external/fuzz_shapetracker_size.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from tinygrad.shape.shapetracker import ShapeTracker
+from test.external.fuzz_shapetracker import shapetracker_ops as st_ops
+from test.unit.test_shapetracker_math import MultiShapeTracker
+from tinygrad.helpers import getenv
+import random
+
+random.seed(getenv("SEED", 42))
+for i in range(getenv("CNT", 2000)):
+  if getenv("DEBUG", 0) >= 1: print()
+  N = random.randint(1, 10000)
+  mst = MultiShapeTracker([ShapeTracker.from_shape((N,))])  # st_ops don't mutate regular shapetrackers for some reason
+  for j in range(20): random.choice(st_ops)(mst)
+  assert mst.sts[0].real_size() <= N, f"{N=}, real_size={mst.sts[0].real_size()}, st={mst.sts[0]}"
diff --git a/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py b/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py
index b2acc24563..b2bada4135 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py
@@ -833,6 +833,30 @@ class TestShapeTrackerSize(unittest.TestCase):
                                                                                strides=(0, 128, 0, 4096, 1), offset=0, mask=None, contiguous=False)))
     self.assertEqual(st.real_size(), 8389632)
 
+  def test_pad_size_simple(self):
+    st = ShapeTracker.from_shape((10,)).pad(((2,4),))
+    self.assertEqual(st.real_size(), 10)
+
+  def test_pad_size_multiview(self):
+    st = ShapeTracker.from_shape((10,10)).pad(((2,4), (3,1))).reshape((16*14,)).stride((17,))
+    self.assertEqual(st.real_size(), 100)
+
+  # TODO improve real_size accuracy in cases like this?
+  @unittest.expectedFailure
+  def test_stride_size(self):
+    st1 = ShapeTracker.from_shape((10,10)).pad(((2,4), (3,1))).reshape((16*14,)).stride((17,))
+    st2 = ShapeTracker.from_shape((10,10)).stride((2,1)).reshape((5*10,)).stride((17,))
+    self.assertEqual(st1.real_size(), 78)
+    self.assertEqual(st2.real_size(), 65)
+
+  def test_stride_size_bounds(self):
+    # lower bound checks that real_size doesn't give false positive for fitting in a buffer
+    # upper bound checks that real_size doesn't exceed N when movementops were applied to from_shape((N,))
+    st1 = ShapeTracker.from_shape((10,10)).pad(((2,4), (3,1))).reshape((16*14,)).stride((17,))
+    st2 = ShapeTracker.from_shape((10,10)).stride((2,1)).reshape((5*10,)).stride((17,))
+    self.assertTrue(78 <= st1.real_size() <= 100)
+    self.assertTrue(65 <= st2.real_size() <= 100)
+
 class TestConsecutive(unittest.TestCase):
   @classmethod
   def setUpClass(self):
diff --git a/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py b/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py
index a2ed622816..8585ca6ffc 100644
--- a/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py
+++ b/tinygrad/shape/shapetracker.py
@@ -72,12 +72,10 @@ class ShapeTracker:
   def to_indexed_uops(self, _idxs:Optional[list[UOp]|tuple[UOp, ...]]=None) -> tuple[UOp, UOp]:
     return views_to_indexed_uops(self.views, tuple(_idxs) if _idxs is not None else None)
 
+  # upper bound on buffer size required to fit this shapetracker
   def real_size(self) -> int:
     if 0 in self.shape: return 0
-    idx, valid = self.to_indexed_uops()
-    if not valid.vmax: return 0
-    assert idx.vmax < 1e12, f"real_size broken for {self}"
-    return int(idx.vmax+1)
+    return int((v.shrink(v.mask) if (v:=self.views[0]).mask else v).to_indexed_uops()[0].vmax + 1)
 
   def vars(self) -> set[Variable]: return set().union(*[v.vars() for v in self.views])