diff --git a/src/backend/storage/page/bufpage.c b/src/backend/storage/page/bufpage.c
index d708117a40..5bf35aff37 100644
--- a/src/backend/storage/page/bufpage.c
+++ b/src/backend/storage/page/bufpage.c
@@ -440,22 +440,53 @@ compactify_tuples(itemIdSort itemidbase, int nitems, Page page)
 	Offset		upper;
 	int			i;
 
-	/* sort itemIdSortData array into decreasing itemoff order */
-	qsort((char *) itemidbase, nitems, sizeof(itemIdSortData),
-		  itemoffcompare);
+	if (nitems > MaxHeapTuplesPerPage / 2)
+	{
+		char buffer[BLCKSZ + MAXIMUM_ALIGNOF];
+		char *bufp = (char *) MAXALIGN(&buffer);
+
+		/*
+		 * Make a temp copy of the tuple data so that we can rearange
+		 * the tuples freely without having to worry about stomping
+		 * on the memory of other tuples.
+		 */
+		memcpy(bufp + phdr->pd_upper,
+			   page + phdr->pd_upper,
+			   phdr->pd_special - phdr->pd_upper);
 
-	upper = phdr->pd_special;
-	for (i = 0; i < nitems; i++)
+		upper = phdr->pd_special;
+		for (i = 0; i < nitems; i++)
+		{
+			itemIdSort	itemidptr = &itemidbase[i];
+			ItemId		lp;
+
+			lp = PageGetItemId(page, itemidptr->offsetindex + 1);
+			upper -= itemidptr->alignedlen;
+			memcpy((char *) page + upper,
+				   bufp + itemidptr->itemoff,
+				   itemidptr->alignedlen);
+			lp->lp_off = upper;
+		}
+	}
+	else
 	{
-		itemIdSort	itemidptr = &itemidbase[i];
-		ItemId		lp;
-
-		lp = PageGetItemId(page, itemidptr->offsetindex + 1);
-		upper -= itemidptr->alignedlen;
-		memmove((char *) page + upper,
-				(char *) page + itemidptr->itemoff,
-				itemidptr->alignedlen);
-		lp->lp_off = upper;
+		/* sort itemIdSortData array into decreasing itemoff order */
+		qsort((char *) itemidbase, nitems, sizeof(itemIdSortData),
+			  itemoffcompare);
+
+		upper = phdr->pd_special;
+		for (i = 0; i < nitems; i++)
+		{
+			itemIdSort	itemidptr = &itemidbase[i];
+			ItemId		lp;
+
+			lp = PageGetItemId(page, itemidptr->offsetindex + 1);
+			upper -= itemidptr->alignedlen;
+			memmove((char *) page + upper,
+					(char *) page + itemidptr->itemoff,
+					itemidptr->alignedlen);
+			lp->lp_off = upper;
+		}
 	}
 
 	phdr->pd_upper = upper;