diff --git a/tools/perf/ui/stdio/hist.c b/tools/perf/ui/stdio/hist.c
index 194e2f42ff5d1335eb1c2b5b53ea2ab6b1604932..6c152686e83763a9b18983d06f52e2a14b739b91 100644
--- a/tools/perf/ui/stdio/hist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/ui/stdio/hist.c
@@ -315,8 +315,7 @@ static inline void advance_hpp(struct perf_hpp *hpp, int inc)
 }
 
 static int hist_entry__period_snprintf(struct perf_hpp *hpp,
-				       struct hist_entry *he,
-				       bool color)
+				       struct hist_entry *he)
 {
 	const char *sep = symbol_conf.field_sep;
 	struct perf_hpp_fmt *fmt;
@@ -338,7 +337,7 @@ static int hist_entry__period_snprintf(struct perf_hpp *hpp,
 		} else
 			first = false;
 
-		if (color && fmt->color)
+		if (perf_hpp__use_color() && fmt->color)
 			ret = fmt->color(fmt, hpp, he);
 		else
 			ret = fmt->entry(fmt, hpp, he);
@@ -358,12 +357,11 @@ static int hist_entry__fprintf(struct hist_entry *he, size_t size,
 		.buf		= bf,
 		.size		= size,
 	};
-	bool color = !symbol_conf.field_sep;
 
 	if (size == 0 || size > bfsz)
 		size = hpp.size = bfsz;
 
-	ret = hist_entry__period_snprintf(&hpp, he, color);
+	ret = hist_entry__period_snprintf(&hpp, he);
 	hist_entry__sort_snprintf(he, bf + ret, size - ret, hists);
 
 	ret = fprintf(fp, "%s\n", bf);
@@ -482,6 +480,7 @@ size_t hists__fprintf(struct hists *hists, bool show_header, int max_rows,
 
 print_entries:
 	linesz = hists__sort_list_width(hists) + 3 + 1;
+	linesz += perf_hpp__color_overhead();
 	line = malloc(linesz);
 	if (line == NULL) {
 		ret = -1;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/hist.h b/tools/perf/util/hist.h
index 1329b6b6ffe61b0f5fb97d8582a837f554b3c752..ce8dc61ce2c358ddea5851079916292e6838a370 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/hist.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/hist.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <pthread.h>
 #include "callchain.h"
 #include "header.h"
+#include "color.h"
 
 extern struct callchain_param callchain_param;
 
@@ -175,6 +176,18 @@ void perf_hpp__init(void);
 void perf_hpp__column_register(struct perf_hpp_fmt *format);
 void perf_hpp__column_enable(unsigned col);
 
+static inline size_t perf_hpp__use_color(void)
+{
+	return !symbol_conf.field_sep;
+}
+
+static inline size_t perf_hpp__color_overhead(void)
+{
+	return perf_hpp__use_color() ?
+	       (COLOR_MAXLEN + sizeof(PERF_COLOR_RESET)) * PERF_HPP__MAX_INDEX
+	       : 0;
+}
+
 struct perf_evlist;
 
 struct hist_browser_timer {