diff --git a/phpBB/includes/message_parser.php b/phpBB/includes/message_parser.php
index bbe7cb5fa8..ed09cfa6bd 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/message_parser.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/message_parser.php
@@ -1105,13 +1105,6 @@ class parse_message extends bbcode_firstpass
 			}
 		}
 
-		// Check for "empty" message
-		if ($mode !== 'sig' && utf8_clean_string($this->message) === '')
-		{
-			$this->warn_msg[] = $user->lang['TOO_FEW_CHARS'];
-			return (!$update_this_message) ? $return_message : $this->warn_msg;
-		}
-
 		// Prepare BBcode (just prepares some tags for better parsing)
 		if ($allow_bbcode && strpos($this->message, '[') !== false)
 		{
@@ -1154,6 +1147,14 @@ class parse_message extends bbcode_firstpass
 			}
 		}
 
+		// Check for "empty" message. We do not check here for maximum length, because bbcode, smilies, etc. can add to the length.
+		// The maximum length check happened before any parsings.
+		if ($mode !== 'sig' && utf8_clean_string($this->message) === '')
+		{
+			$this->warn_msg[] = $user->lang['TOO_FEW_CHARS'];
+			return (!$update_this_message) ? $return_message : $this->warn_msg;
+		}
+
 		// Check number of links
 		if ($config['max_' . $mode . '_urls'] && $num_urls > $config['max_' . $mode . '_urls'])
 		{