diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 52533c09..43462160 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   up as a fsnotify.Write event. This is never useful, and could result in many
   spurious Write events.
 
+- windows: return ErrEventOverflow if the buffer is full ([#525])
+
+  Before it would merely return "short read", making it hard to detect this
+  error.
+
 - all: return ErrClosed on Add() when the watcher is closed ([#516])
 
 
@@ -35,6 +40,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 [#516]: https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/pull/516
 [#518]: https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/pull/518
 [#520]: https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/pull/520
+[#525]: https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/pull/525
 
 ## [1.6.0] - 2022-10-13
 
diff --git a/backend_fen.go b/backend_fen.go
index ad7dac97..f2a5042e 100644
--- a/backend_fen.go
+++ b/backend_fen.go
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ type Watcher struct {
 	Events chan Event
 
 	// Errors sends any errors.
+	//
+	// [ErrEventOverflow] is used to indicate ther are too many events:
+	//
+	//  - inotify: there are too many queued events (fs.inotify.max_queued_events sysctl)
+	//  - windows: The buffer size is too small; [WithBufferSize] can be used to increase it.
+	//  - kqueue, fen: not used.
 	Errors chan error
 
 	mu      sync.Mutex
diff --git a/backend_inotify.go b/backend_inotify.go
index 355729a0..25142e70 100644
--- a/backend_inotify.go
+++ b/backend_inotify.go
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ type Watcher struct {
 	Events chan Event
 
 	// Errors sends any errors.
+	//
+	// [ErrEventOverflow] is used to indicate ther are too many events:
+	//
+	//  - inotify: there are too many queued events (fs.inotify.max_queued_events sysctl)
+	//  - windows: The buffer size is too small; [WithBufferSize] can be used to increase it.
+	//  - kqueue, fen: not used.
 	Errors chan error
 
 	// Store fd here as os.File.Read() will no longer return on close after
diff --git a/backend_kqueue.go b/backend_kqueue.go
index 348ef638..cfacedc2 100644
--- a/backend_kqueue.go
+++ b/backend_kqueue.go
@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@ type Watcher struct {
 	Events chan Event
 
 	// Errors sends any errors.
+	//
+	// [ErrEventOverflow] is used to indicate ther are too many events:
+	//
+	//  - inotify: there are too many queued events (fs.inotify.max_queued_events sysctl)
+	//  - windows: The buffer size is too small; [WithBufferSize] can be used to increase it.
+	//  - kqueue, fen: not used.
 	Errors chan error
 
 	done         chan struct{}
diff --git a/backend_windows.go b/backend_windows.go
index 1bdadf3a..585d005a 100644
--- a/backend_windows.go
+++ b/backend_windows.go
@@ -114,6 +114,12 @@ type Watcher struct {
 	Events chan Event
 
 	// Errors sends any errors.
+	//
+	// [ErrEventOverflow] is used to indicate ther are too many events:
+	//
+	//  - inotify: there are too many queued events (fs.inotify.max_queued_events sysctl)
+	//  - windows: The buffer size is too small; [WithBufferSize] can be used to increase it.
+	//  - kqueue, fen: not used.
 	Errors chan error
 
 	port  windows.Handle // Handle to completion port
@@ -643,7 +649,7 @@ func (w *Watcher) readEvents() {
 		var offset uint32
 		for {
 			if n == 0 {
-				w.sendError(errors.New("short read in readEvents()"))
+				w.sendError(ErrEventOverflow)
 				break
 			}
 
diff --git a/fsnotify.go b/fsnotify.go
index 2b570fac..37b34315 100644
--- a/fsnotify.go
+++ b/fsnotify.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ const (
 // Common errors that can be reported.
 var (
 	ErrNonExistentWatch = errors.New("fsnotify: can't remove non-existent watcher")
-	ErrEventOverflow    = errors.New("fsnotify: queue overflow")
+	ErrEventOverflow    = errors.New("fsnotify: queue or buffer overflow")
 	ErrClosed           = errors.New("fsnotify: watcher already closed")
 )
 
diff --git a/mkdoc.zsh b/mkdoc.zsh
index a0659b0c..71ffa883 100755
--- a/mkdoc.zsh
+++ b/mkdoc.zsh
@@ -171,6 +171,12 @@ EOF
 
 errors=$(<<EOF
 	// Errors sends any errors.
+	//
+	// [ErrEventOverflow] is used to indicate ther are too many events:
+	//
+	//  - inotify: there are too many queued events (fs.inotify.max_queued_events sysctl)
+	//  - windows: The buffer size is too small; [WithBufferSize] can be used to increase it.
+	//  - kqueue, fen: not used.
 EOF
 )