diff --git a/tests/playTests.sh b/tests/playTests.sh
index 8342455a1..6e5582df7 100755
--- a/tests/playTests.sh
+++ b/tests/playTests.sh
@@ -815,7 +815,7 @@ FULL_COMPRESSED_FILE=${TEST_DATA_FILE}.zst
 TRUNCATED_COMPRESSED_FILE=truncated-input.txt.zst
 ./datagen -g50000 > $TEST_DATA_FILE
 $ZSTD -f $TEST_DATA_FILE -o $FULL_COMPRESSED_FILE
-head -c 100 $FULL_COMPRESSED_FILE > $TRUNCATED_COMPRESSED_FILE
+dd bs=1 count=100 if=$FULL_COMPRESSED_FILE of=$TRUNCATED_COMPRESSED_FILE status=none
 $ZSTD --list $TRUNCATED_COMPRESSED_FILE && die "-l must fail on truncated file"
 
 rm $TEST_DATA_FILE