diff --git a/log/format.go b/log/format.go
index 7902b296e6..0e176b0d0e 100644
--- a/log/format.go
+++ b/log/format.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const (
 	termTimeFormat = "01-02|15:04:05.000"
 	floatFormat    = 'f'
 	termMsgJust    = 40
+	termCtxMaxPadding = 40
 )
 
 // locationTrims are trimmed for display to avoid unwieldy log lines.
@@ -175,7 +176,7 @@ func logfmt(buf *bytes.Buffer, ctx []interface{}, color int, term bool) {
 		fieldPaddingLock.RUnlock()
 
 		length := utf8.RuneCountInString(v)
-		if padding < length {
+		if padding < length && length <= termCtxMaxPadding {
 			padding = length
 
 			fieldPaddingLock.Lock()
@@ -189,7 +190,7 @@ func logfmt(buf *bytes.Buffer, ctx []interface{}, color int, term bool) {
 			buf.WriteByte('=')
 		}
 		buf.WriteString(v)
-		if i < len(ctx)-2 {
+		if i < len(ctx)-2 && padding > length {
 			buf.Write(bytes.Repeat([]byte{' '}, padding-length))
 		}
 	}