diff --git a/src/vs/platform/environment/common/environment.ts b/src/vs/platform/environment/common/environment.ts
index 5f803747718933c7af82d145a474059f813f693c..c59029b0e3dc4830df9b327455218a20aec9b24f 100644
--- a/src/vs/platform/environment/common/environment.ts
+++ b/src/vs/platform/environment/common/environment.ts
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ export interface ParsedArgs {
 	'disable-updates'?: string;
 	'disable-crash-reporter'?: string;
 	'skip-add-to-recently-opened'?: boolean;
-	'max-memory'?: number;
+	'max-memory'?: string;
 	'file-write'?: boolean;
 	'file-chmod'?: boolean;
 	'upload-logs'?: string;
diff --git a/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argv.ts b/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argv.ts
index 054a7fe2c6134880a2a764ac4ab21d53c6927b25..7a304566aef14002d996a5712ed2b78530df31aa 100644
--- a/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argv.ts
+++ b/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argv.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ export const options: Option[] = [
 	{ id: 'inspect-brk-extensions', type: 'string', deprecates: 'debugBrkPluginHost', args: 'port', cat: 't', description: localize('inspect-brk-extensions', "Allow debugging and profiling of extensions with the extension host being paused after start. Check the developer tools for the connection URI.") },
 	{ id: 'disable-gpu', type: 'boolean', cat: 't', description: localize('disableGPU', "Disable GPU hardware acceleration.") },
 	{ id: 'upload-logs', type: 'string', cat: 't', description: localize('uploadLogs', "Uploads logs from current session to a secure endpoint.") },
-	{ id: 'max-memory', type: 'boolean', cat: 't', description: localize('maxMemory', "Max memory size for a window (in Mbytes).") },
+	{ id: 'max-memory', type: 'string', cat: 't', description: localize('maxMemory', "Max memory size for a window (in Mbytes).") },
 
 	{ id: 'remote', type: 'string' },
 	{ id: 'extensionDevelopmentPath', type: 'string' },
diff --git a/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argvHelper.ts b/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argvHelper.ts
index a69fda7a3713f85fff56ecfcff2d3394a58ab6fa..b5db5eba7f0760a88988572f868f68986e22d550 100644
--- a/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argvHelper.ts
+++ b/src/vs/platform/environment/node/argvHelper.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ function validate(args: ParsedArgs): ParsedArgs {
 	}
 
 	if (args['max-memory']) {
-		assert(args['max-memory'] >= MIN_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE_MB, `The max-memory argument cannot be specified lower than ${MIN_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE_MB} MB.`);
+		console.log(parseInt(args['max-memory']));
+		assert(parseInt(args['max-memory']) >= MIN_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE_MB, `The max-memory argument cannot be specified lower than ${MIN_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE_MB} MB.`);
 	}
 
 	return args;
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/files/electron-browser/fileService.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/files/electron-browser/fileService.ts
index ff4a18cfa9dae558406d07212fa14f7a91e52076..ab16a378ff335440439c886c71a8482088f08f06 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/files/electron-browser/fileService.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/files/electron-browser/fileService.ts
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ export class FileService extends Disposable implements IFileService {
 
 			// Return early if file is too large to load
 			if (typeof stat.size === 'number') {
-				if (stat.size > Math.max(this.environmentService.args['max-memory'] * 1024 * 1024 || 0, MAX_HEAP_SIZE)) {
+				if (stat.size > Math.max(parseInt(this.environmentService.args['max-memory']) * 1024 * 1024 || 0, MAX_HEAP_SIZE)) {
 					return onStatError(new FileOperationError(
 						nls.localize('fileTooLargeForHeapError', "To open a file of this size, you need to restart VS Code and allow it to use more memory"),
 						FileOperationResult.FILE_EXCEED_MEMORY_LIMIT
@@ -485,7 +485,7 @@ export class FileService extends Disposable implements IFileService {
 							currentPosition += bytesRead;
 						}
 
-						if (totalBytesRead > Math.max(this.environmentService.args['max-memory'] * 1024 * 1024 || 0, MAX_HEAP_SIZE)) {
+						if (totalBytesRead > Math.max(parseInt(this.environmentService.args['max-memory']) * 1024 * 1024 || 0, MAX_HEAP_SIZE)) {
 							finish(new FileOperationError(
 								nls.localize('fileTooLargeForHeapError', "To open a file of this size, you need to restart VS Code and allow it to use more memory"),
 								FileOperationResult.FILE_EXCEED_MEMORY_LIMIT