diff --git a/Documentation/MANPAGE.md b/Documentation/MANPAGE.md
index b9c72dd..ffed44e 100644
--- a/Documentation/MANPAGE.md
+++ b/Documentation/MANPAGE.md
@@ -318,9 +318,10 @@ the directories. Example:
     gocryptfs -ko noexec /tmp/foo /tmp/bar
 
 #### -longnames
-Store names longer than 176 bytes in extra files (default true)
-This flag is useful when recovering old gocryptfs filesystems using
-"-masterkey". It is ignored (stays at the default) otherwise.
+Store names that are longer than 175 bytes in extra files (default true).
+
+This flag is only useful when recovering very old gocryptfs filesystems (gocryptfs v0.8 and earlier)
+using "-masterkey". It is ignored (stays at the default) otherwise.
 
 #### -nodev
 See `-dev, -nodev`.
diff --git a/cli_args.go b/cli_args.go
index e925345..6b97744 100644
--- a/cli_args.go
+++ b/cli_args.go
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ func parseCliOpts(osArgs []string) (args argContainer) {
 	flagSet.BoolVar(&args.quiet, "quiet", false, "Quiet - silence informational messages")
 	flagSet.BoolVar(&args.nosyslog, "nosyslog", false, "Do not redirect output to syslog when running in the background")
 	flagSet.BoolVar(&args.wpanic, "wpanic", false, "When encountering a warning, panic and exit immediately")
-	flagSet.BoolVar(&args.longnames, "longnames", true, "Store names longer than 176 bytes in extra files")
+	flagSet.BoolVar(&args.longnames, "longnames", true, "Store names longer than 175 bytes in extra files")
 	flagSet.BoolVar(&args.allow_other, "allow_other", false, "Allow other users to access the filesystem. "+
 		"Only works if user_allow_other is set in /etc/fuse.conf.")
 	flagSet.BoolVar(&args.reverse, "reverse", false, "Reverse mode")
diff --git a/internal/configfile/feature_flags.go b/internal/configfile/feature_flags.go
index e45b20c..d6627a5 100644
--- a/internal/configfile/feature_flags.go
+++ b/internal/configfile/feature_flags.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ const (
 	// This flag is mandatory since gocryptfs v1.0,
 	// except when XChaCha20Poly1305 is used.
 	FlagGCMIV128
-	// FlagLongNames allows file names longer than 176 bytes.
+	// FlagLongNames allows file names longer than 175 bytes.
 	FlagLongNames
 	// FlagLongNameMax sets a custom name length limit, names longer than that
 	// will be hashed.