diff --git a/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.hpp b/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.hpp
index c5242194e..509646295 100644
--- a/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.hpp
+++ b/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.hpp
@@ -56,10 +56,12 @@ struct MCAP_PUBLIC McapWriterOptions {
   bool noSummary = false;
   /**
    * @brief Target uncompressed Chunk payload size in bytes. Once a Chunk's
-   * uncompressed data meets or exceeds this size, the Chunk will be compressed
-   * (if compression is enabled) and written to disk. Note that smaller Chunks
-   * may be written, such as the last Chunk in the Data section. This option is
-   * ignored if `noChunking=true`.
+   * uncompressed data is about to exceed this size, the Chunk will be
+   * compressed (if enabled) and written to disk. Note that this is a 'soft'
+   * ceiling as some Chunks could exceed this size due to either indexing
+   * data or when a single message is larger than `chunkSize`, in which case,
+   * the Chunk will contain only this one large message.
+   * This option is ignored if `noChunking=true`.
    */
   uint64_t chunkSize = DefaultChunkSize;
   /**
@@ -432,6 +434,7 @@ class MCAP_PUBLIC McapWriter final {
   static uint64_t write(IWritable& output, const Footer& footer, bool crcEnabled);
   static uint64_t write(IWritable& output, const Schema& schema);
   static uint64_t write(IWritable& output, const Channel& channel);
+  static uint64_t getRecordSize(const Message& message);
   static uint64_t write(IWritable& output, const Message& message);
   static uint64_t write(IWritable& output, const Attachment& attachment);
   static uint64_t write(IWritable& output, const Metadata& metadata);
diff --git a/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.inl b/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.inl
index dd9b82cb9..15f2fcf20 100644
--- a/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.inl
+++ b/cpp/mcap/include/mcap/writer.inl
@@ -547,6 +547,16 @@ Status McapWriter::write(const Message& message) {
     ++statistics_.channelCount;
   }
 
+  // Before writing a message that would overflow the current chunk, close it.
+  auto* chunkWriter = getChunkWriter();
+  if (chunkWriter != nullptr && /* Chunked? */
+      uncompressedSize_ != 0 && /* Current chunk is not empty/new? */
+      9 + getRecordSize(message) + uncompressedSize_ >= chunkSize_ /* Overflowing? */) {
+      auto& fileOutput = *output_;
+      writeChunk(fileOutput, *chunkWriter);
+  }
+
+  // For the chunk-local message index.
   const uint64_t messageOffset = uncompressedSize_;
 
   // Write the message
@@ -565,8 +575,7 @@ Status McapWriter::write(const Message& message) {
     channelMessageCounts[message.channelId] += 1;
   }
 
-  auto* chunkWriter = getChunkWriter();
-  if (chunkWriter) {
+  if (chunkWriter != nullptr) {
     if (!options_.noMessageIndex) {
       // Update the message index
       auto& messageIndex = currentMessageIndex_[message.channelId];
@@ -875,8 +884,12 @@ uint64_t McapWriter::write(IWritable& output, const Channel& channel) {
   return 9 + recordSize;
 }
 
+uint64_t McapWriter::getRecordSize(const Message& message) {
+  return 2 + 4 + 8 + 8 + message.dataSize;
+}
+
 uint64_t McapWriter::write(IWritable& output, const Message& message) {
-  const uint64_t recordSize = 2 + 4 + 8 + 8 + message.dataSize;
+  const uint64_t recordSize = getRecordSize(message);
 
   write(output, OpCode::Message);
   write(output, recordSize);
diff --git a/cpp/test/unit_tests.cpp b/cpp/test/unit_tests.cpp
index 99759018d..d5e2603fa 100644
--- a/cpp/test/unit_tests.cpp
+++ b/cpp/test/unit_tests.cpp
@@ -530,7 +530,8 @@ TEST_CASE("McapReader::readMessages()", "[reader]") {
 
 /**
  * @brief ensures that message index records are only written for the channels present in the
- * previous chunk. This test writes two chunks with one message each in separate channels.
+ * previous chunk. This test writes two chunks with one message each in separate channels, with
+ * the second message being large enough to guarantee the current chunk will be written out.
  * If the writer is working correctly, there will be one message index record after each chunk,
  * one for each message.
  */
@@ -539,7 +540,7 @@ TEST_CASE("Message index records", "[writer]") {
 
   mcap::McapWriter writer;
   mcap::McapWriterOptions opts("test");
-  opts.chunkSize = 100;
+  opts.chunkSize = 200;
   opts.compression = mcap::Compression::None;
 
   writer.open(buffer, opts);
@@ -552,9 +553,10 @@ TEST_CASE("Message index records", "[writer]") {
   writer.addChannel(channel2);
 
   mcap::Message msg;
-  std::vector<std::byte> data(150);
-  WriteMsg(writer, channel1.id, 0, 100, 100, data);
-  WriteMsg(writer, channel2.id, 0, 200, 200, data);
+  // First message should not fill first chunk.
+  WriteMsg(writer, channel1.id, 0, 100, 100, std::vector<std::byte>{20});
+  // Second message fills current chunk and triggers a new one.
+  WriteMsg(writer, channel2.id, 0, 200, 200, std::vector<std::byte>{400});
 
   writer.close();