diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 5ce2cc74cf..a8cf796700 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 2.0.17
+ * Don't cast expected bf size to an int (CASSANDRA-9959)
  * Log when messages are dropped due to cross_node_timeout (CASSANDRA-9793)
  * checkForEndpointCollision fails for legitimate collisions (CASSANDRA-9765)
  * Complete CASSANDRA-8448 fix (CASSANDRA-9519)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionManager.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionManager.java
index 5b5b39e145..9d71dc749c 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionManager.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionManager.java
@@ -553,8 +553,8 @@ public class CompactionManager implements CompactionManagerMBean
 
             long totalkeysWritten = 0;
 
-            int expectedBloomFilterSize = Math.max(cfs.metadata.getIndexInterval(),
-                                                   (int) (SSTableReader.getApproximateKeyCount(sstableAsSet, cfs.metadata)));
+            long expectedBloomFilterSize = Math.max(cfs.metadata.getIndexInterval(),
+                                                    SSTableReader.getApproximateKeyCount(sstableAsSet, cfs.metadata));
             if (logger.isDebugEnabled())
                 logger.debug("Expected bloom filter size : " + expectedBloomFilterSize);
 
@@ -734,7 +734,7 @@ public class CompactionManager implements CompactionManagerMBean
 
     public static SSTableWriter createWriter(ColumnFamilyStore cfs,
                                              File compactionFileLocation,
-                                             int expectedBloomFilterSize,
+                                             long expectedBloomFilterSize,
                                              SSTableReader sstable)
     {
         FileUtils.createDirectory(compactionFileLocation);
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/Scrubber.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/Scrubber.java
index dc60efa673..d242264f5f 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/Scrubber.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/Scrubber.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public class Scrubber implements Closeable
 
     private final CompactionController controller;
     private final boolean isCommutative;
-    private final int expectedBloomFilterSize;
+    private final long expectedBloomFilterSize;
 
     private final RandomAccessReader dataFile;
     private final RandomAccessReader indexFile;
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ public class Scrubber implements Closeable
         }
 
         this.expectedBloomFilterSize = Math.max(cfs.metadata.getIndexInterval(),
-                hasIndexFile ? (int)(SSTableReader.getApproximateKeyCount(toScrub,cfs.metadata)) : 0);
+                hasIndexFile ? SSTableReader.getApproximateKeyCount(toScrub, cfs.metadata) : 0);
 
         // loop through each row, deserializing to check for damage.
         // we'll also loop through the index at the same time, using the position from the index to recover if the