diff --git a/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c b/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c
index d93b202e7..8b8b381ed 100644
--- a/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c
+++ b/lib/dictBuilder/zdict.c
@@ -915,6 +915,17 @@ _cleanup:
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * @returns the maximum repcode value
+ */
+static U32 ZDICT_maxRep(U32 const reps[ZSTD_REP_NUM])
+{
+    U32 maxRep = reps[0];
+    int r;
+    for (r = 1; r < ZSTD_REP_NUM; ++r)
+        maxRep = MAX(maxRep, reps[r]);
+    return maxRep;
+}
 
 size_t ZDICT_finalizeDictionary(void* dictBuffer, size_t dictBufferCapacity,
                           const void* customDictContent, size_t dictContentSize,
@@ -926,11 +937,13 @@ size_t ZDICT_finalizeDictionary(void* dictBuffer, size_t dictBufferCapacity,
     BYTE header[HBUFFSIZE];
     int const compressionLevel = (params.compressionLevel == 0) ? ZSTD_CLEVEL_DEFAULT : params.compressionLevel;
     U32 const notificationLevel = params.notificationLevel;
+    /* The final dictionary content must be at least as large as the largest repcode */
+    size_t const minContentSize = (size_t)ZDICT_maxRep(repStartValue);
+    size_t paddingSize;
 
     /* check conditions */
     DEBUGLOG(4, "ZDICT_finalizeDictionary");
     if (dictBufferCapacity < dictContentSize) return ERROR(dstSize_tooSmall);
-    if (dictContentSize < ZDICT_CONTENTSIZE_MIN) return ERROR(srcSize_wrong);
     if (dictBufferCapacity < ZDICT_DICTSIZE_MIN) return ERROR(dstSize_tooSmall);
 
     /* dictionary header */
@@ -954,12 +967,43 @@ size_t ZDICT_finalizeDictionary(void* dictBuffer, size_t dictBufferCapacity,
         hSize += eSize;
     }
 
-    /* copy elements in final buffer ; note : src and dst buffer can overlap */
-    if (hSize + dictContentSize > dictBufferCapacity) dictContentSize = dictBufferCapacity - hSize;
-    {   size_t const dictSize = hSize + dictContentSize;
-        char* dictEnd = (char*)dictBuffer + dictSize;
-        memmove(dictEnd - dictContentSize, customDictContent, dictContentSize);
-        memcpy(dictBuffer, header, hSize);
+    /* Shrink the content size if it doesn't fit in the buffer */
+    if (hSize + dictContentSize > dictBufferCapacity) {
+        dictContentSize = dictBufferCapacity - hSize;
+    }
+
+    /* Pad the dictionary content with zeros if it is too small */
+    if (dictContentSize < minContentSize) {
+        RETURN_ERROR_IF(hSize + minContentSize > dictBufferCapacity, dstSize_tooSmall,
+                        "dictBufferCapacity too small to fit max repcode");
+        paddingSize = minContentSize - dictContentSize;
+    } else {
+        paddingSize = 0;
+    }
+
+    {
+        size_t const dictSize = hSize + paddingSize + dictContentSize;
+
+        /* The dictionary consists of the header, optional padding, and the content.
+         * The padding comes before the content because the "best" position in the
+         * dictionary is the last byte.
+         */
+        BYTE* const outDictHeader = (BYTE*)dictBuffer;
+        BYTE* const outDictPadding = outDictHeader + hSize;
+        BYTE* const outDictContent = outDictPadding + paddingSize;
+
+        assert(dictSize <= dictBufferCapacity);
+        assert(outDictContent + dictContentSize == (BYTE*)dictBuffer + dictSize);
+
+        /* First copy the customDictContent into its final location.
+         * `customDictContent` and `dictBuffer` may overlap, so we must
+         * do this before any other writes into the output buffer.
+         * Then copy the header & padding into the output buffer.
+         */
+        memmove(outDictContent, customDictContent, dictContentSize);
+        memcpy(outDictHeader, header, hSize);
+        memset(outDictPadding, 0, paddingSize);
+
         return dictSize;
     }
 }
diff --git a/lib/zdict.h b/lib/zdict.h
index ac98a169b..f1e139a40 100644
--- a/lib/zdict.h
+++ b/lib/zdict.h
@@ -237,7 +237,6 @@ typedef struct {
  * is presumed that the most profitable content is at the end of the dictionary,
  * since that is the cheapest to reference.
  *
- * `dictContentSize` must be >= ZDICT_CONTENTSIZE_MIN bytes.
  * `maxDictSize` must be >= max(dictContentSize, ZSTD_DICTSIZE_MIN).
  *
  * @return: size of dictionary stored into `dstDictBuffer` (<= `maxDictSize`),
@@ -272,8 +271,9 @@ ZDICTLIB_API const char* ZDICT_getErrorName(size_t errorCode);
  * Use them only in association with static linking.
  * ==================================================================================== */
 
-#define ZDICT_CONTENTSIZE_MIN 128
 #define ZDICT_DICTSIZE_MIN    256
+/* Deprecated: Remove in v1.6.0 */
+#define ZDICT_CONTENTSIZE_MIN 128
 
 /*! ZDICT_cover_params_t:
  *  k and d are the only required parameters.
diff --git a/tests/playTests.sh b/tests/playTests.sh
index 83b0cd438..6dbfffca2 100755
--- a/tests/playTests.sh
+++ b/tests/playTests.sh
@@ -1022,12 +1022,8 @@ zstd -o tmpDict --train "$TESTDIR"/*.c "$PRGDIR"/*.c
 test -f tmpDict
 zstd --train "$TESTDIR"/*.c "$PRGDIR"/*.c
 test -f dictionary
-println "- Test dictionary training fails"
-echo "000000000000000000000000000000000" > tmpz
-zstd --train tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz && die "Dictionary training should fail : source is all zeros"
 if [ -n "$hasMT" ]
 then
-  zstd --train -T0 tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz tmpz && die "Dictionary training should fail : source is all zeros"
   println "- Create dictionary with multithreading enabled"
   zstd --train -T0 "$TESTDIR"/*.c "$PRGDIR"/*.c -o tmpDict
 fi