diff --git a/ext/standard/tests/file/file.inc b/ext/standard/tests/file/file.inc
index 0292bea1182..d4ad02a363b 100644
--- a/ext/standard/tests/file/file.inc
+++ b/ext/standard/tests/file/file.inc
@@ -590,6 +590,8 @@ $all_stat_keys = array(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
                        "rdev", "size", "atime", "mtime", "ctime",
                        "blksize", "blocks");
 
+$stat_time_diff_keys = array(8, 'atime');
+
 function compare_stats($stat1, $stat2, $fields, $op = "==", $flag = false ) {
   // dump the stat if requested
   if ( $flag == true ) {
@@ -606,8 +608,13 @@ function compare_stats($stat1, $stat2, $fields, $op = "==", $flag = false ) {
     {
        case "==":
          if ( $stat1[ $fields[$index] ] != $stat2[ $fields[$index] ] ) {
-           $result = false;
-           echo "Error: stat1 do not match with stat2 at key value: $fields[$index]\n";
+          if ( ! in_array( $index, $stat_time_diff_keys ) ) {
+            $result = false;
+            echo "Error: stat1 do not match with stat2 at key value: $fields[$index]\n";
+          } elseif (abs($stat1[ $fields[$index] ] - $stat2[ $fields[$index] ]) > 1)  {
+            $result = false;
+            echo "Error: stat1 differs too much from stat2 at key value: $fields[$index]\n";
+          }
          }
          break;