diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/ResourceJarActionBuilder.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/ResourceJarActionBuilder.java
index 29332622a1a30b..a549af3665b236 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/ResourceJarActionBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/ResourceJarActionBuilder.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.actions.Artifact;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.actions.ParameterFile.ParameterFileType;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.RuleConfiguredTarget.Mode;
@@ -119,6 +120,17 @@ public void build(JavaSemantics semantics, RuleContext ruleContext) {
     if (!classpathResources.isEmpty()) {
       command.addExecPaths("--classpath_resources", classpathResources);
     }
+    // TODO(b/37444705): remove this logic and always call useParameterFile once the bug is fixed
+    // Most resource jar actions are very small and expanding the argument list for
+    // ParamFileHelper#getParamsFileMaybe is expensive, so avoid doing that work if
+    // we definitely don't need a params file.
+    // This heuristic could be much more aggressive, but we don't ever want to skip
+    // the params file in situations where it is required for --min_param_file_size.
+    if (sizeGreaterThanOrEqual(
+            Iterables.concat(messages, resources.values(), resourceJars, classpathResources), 10)
+        || ruleContext.getConfiguration().getMinParamFileSize() < 10000) {
+      builder.useParameterFile(ParameterFileType.SHELL_QUOTED);
+    }
     ruleContext.registerAction(
         builder
             .addOutput(outputJar)
@@ -126,13 +138,16 @@ public void build(JavaSemantics semantics, RuleContext ruleContext) {
             .addInputs(resources.values())
             .addTransitiveInputs(resourceJars)
             .addInputs(classpathResources)
-            .useParameterFile(ParameterFileType.SHELL_QUOTED)
             .setCommandLine(command.build())
             .setProgressMessage("Building Java resource jar")
             .setMnemonic("JavaResourceJar")
             .build(ruleContext));
   }
 
+  boolean sizeGreaterThanOrEqual(Iterable<?> elements, int size) {
+    return Iterables.size(Iterables.limit(elements, size)) == size;
+  }
+
   private static void addAsResourcePrefixedExecPath(
       PathFragment resourcePath, Artifact artifact, CustomCommandLine.Builder builder) {
     PathFragment execPath = artifact.getExecPath();