diff --git a/base/iostream.jl b/base/iostream.jl
index 30c8b65f9ea63..74908344e078e 100644
--- a/base/iostream.jl
+++ b/base/iostream.jl
@@ -228,16 +228,10 @@ function position(s::IOStream)
 end
 
 function filesize(s::IOStream)
-    sz = try
-        @_lock_ios s ccall(:ios_filesize, Int64, (Ptr{Cvoid},), s.ios)
-    catch e
-        e isa IOError || rethrow()
-        # if `s` is not seekable `ios_filesize` can fail, so fall back to slower stat method
-        filesize(stat(s))
-    end
+    sz = @_lock_ios s ccall(:ios_filesize, Int64, (Ptr{Cvoid},), s.ios)
     if sz == -1
-        err = Libc.errno()
-        throw(IOError(string("filesize: ", Libc.strerror(err), " for ", s.name), err))
+        # if `s` is not seekable `ios_filesize` can fail, so fall back to slower stat method
+        sz = filesize(stat(s))
     end
     return sz
 end