diff --git a/src/daemon/db_util.rs b/src/daemon/db_util.rs
index 666020166d80..224c01aa1122 100644
--- a/src/daemon/db_util.rs
+++ b/src/daemon/db_util.rs
@@ -161,7 +161,15 @@ pub async fn import_chain_as_forest_car(
                 snapshot_progress_tracker.completed();
             } else {
                 snapshot_progress_tracker.not_required();
-                move_or_copy_file(from_path, &downloaded_car_temp_path, mode)?;
+                if ForestCar::is_valid(&EitherMmapOrRandomAccessFile::open(from_path)?) {
+                    move_or_copy_file(from_path, &downloaded_car_temp_path, mode)?;
+                } else {
+                    // For a local snapshot, we transcode directly instead of copying & transcoding.
+                    transcode_into_forest_car(from_path, &downloaded_car_temp_path).await?;
+                    if mode == ImportMode::Move {
+                        std::fs::remove_file(from_path).context("Error removing original file")?;
+                    }
+                }
             }
 
             if ForestCar::is_valid(&EitherMmapOrRandomAccessFile::open(
@@ -292,6 +300,11 @@ fn move_or_copy_file(from: &Path, to: &Path, import_mode: ImportMode) -> anyhow:
 }
 
 async fn transcode_into_forest_car(from: &Path, to: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    tracing::info!(
+        from = %from.display(),
+        to = %to.display(),
+        "transcoding into forest car"
+    );
     let car_stream = CarStream::new(tokio::io::BufReader::new(
         tokio::fs::File::open(from).await?,
     ))
diff --git a/src/db/car/forest.rs b/src/db/car/forest.rs
index 7603bed01b6b..17ef3fa0c908 100644
--- a/src/db/car/forest.rs
+++ b/src/db/car/forest.rs
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ use crate::blocks::{Tipset, TipsetKey};
 use crate::chain::FilecoinSnapshotMetadata;
 use crate::db::car::RandomAccessFileReader;
 use crate::db::car::plain::write_skip_frame_header_async;
-use crate::utils::db::car_stream::{CarBlock, CarV1Header};
+use crate::utils::db::car_stream::{CarBlock, CarV1Header, uvi_bytes};
 use crate::utils::encoding::from_slice_with_fallback;
 use crate::utils::get_size::CidWrapper;
 use crate::utils::io::EitherMmapOrRandomAccessFile;
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ use std::{
 };
 use tokio::io::{AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt};
 use tokio_util::codec::{Decoder, Encoder as _};
-use unsigned_varint::codec::UviBytes;
 
 #[cfg(feature = "benchmark-private")]
 pub mod index;
@@ -157,7 +156,7 @@ impl<ReaderT: super::RandomAccessFileReader> ForestCar<ReaderT> {
 
         let cursor = Cursor::new_pos(&reader, 0);
         let mut header_zstd_frame = decode_zstd_single_frame(cursor)?;
-        let block_frame = UviBytes::<Bytes>::default()
+        let block_frame = uvi_bytes()
             .decode(&mut header_zstd_frame)?
             .ok_or_else(|| invalid_data("malformed uvibytes"))?;
         let header = from_slice_with_fallback::<CarV1Header>(&block_frame)
@@ -265,9 +264,7 @@ where
                     let mut zstd_frame = decode_zstd_single_frame(cursor)?;
                     // Parse all key-value pairs and insert them into a map
                     let mut block_map = hashbrown::HashMap::new();
-                    while let Some(block_frame) =
-                        UviBytes::<Bytes>::default().decode_eof(&mut zstd_frame)?
-                    {
+                    while let Some(block_frame) = uvi_bytes().decode_eof(&mut zstd_frame)? {
                         let CarBlock { cid, data } = CarBlock::from_bytes(block_frame)?;
                         block_map.insert(cid.into(), data);
                     }
@@ -313,7 +310,7 @@ impl Encoder {
 
         let header = CarV1Header { roots, version: 1 };
         let mut header_uvi_frame = BytesMut::new();
-        UviBytes::default().encode(
+        uvi_bytes().encode(
             Bytes::from(fvm_ipld_encoding::to_vec(&header)?),
             &mut header_uvi_frame,
         )?;
@@ -402,7 +399,11 @@ impl Encoder {
                         }
                     }
                     // Pass errors through
-                    Some(Err(e)) => return Poll::Ready(Some(Err(e))),
+                    Some(Err(e)) => {
+                        return Poll::Ready(Some(Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
+                            "error polling CarBlock from stream: {e}"
+                        ))));
+                    }
                     // Got element, add to encoder and emit block position
                     Some(Ok(block)) => {
                         frame_cids.push(block.cid);
diff --git a/src/utils/db/car_stream.rs b/src/utils/db/car_stream.rs
index 99a5c296b448..c38af112ecda 100644
--- a/src/utils/db/car_stream.rs
+++ b/src/utils/db/car_stream.rs
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ impl<ReaderT: AsyncBufRead + Unpin> CarStream<ReaderT> {
             .as_ref()
             .map(|h| h.data_size as u64)
             .unwrap_or(u64::MAX);
-        let mut reader = FramedRead::new(reader.take(max_car_v1_bytes), UviBytes::default());
+        let mut reader = FramedRead::new(reader.take(max_car_v1_bytes), uvi_bytes());
         let header_v1 = read_v1_header(&mut reader)
             .await
             .ok_or_else(|| io::Error::new(io::ErrorKind::InvalidData, "invalid v1 header block"))?;
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ impl<W: AsyncWrite> CarWriter<W> {
         let car_header = CarV1Header { roots, version: 1 };
 
         let mut header_uvi_frame = BytesMut::new();
-        UviBytes::default().encode(Bytes::from(to_vec(&car_header)?), &mut header_uvi_frame)?;
+        uvi_bytes().encode(Bytes::from(to_vec(&car_header)?), &mut header_uvi_frame)?;
 
         Ok(Self {
             inner: writer,
@@ -329,6 +329,14 @@ async fn read_v1_header<ReaderT: AsyncRead + Unpin>(
     Some(header)
 }
 
+pub fn uvi_bytes() -> UviBytes {
+    // 8GiB
+    const MAX_LEN: usize = 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
+    let mut decoder = UviBytes::default();
+    decoder.set_max_len(MAX_LEN);
+    decoder
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use std::io::Cursor;