diff --git a/Lib/test/test_marshal.py b/Lib/test/test_marshal.py
index 1967c48..76d59ba 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_marshal.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_marshal.py
@@ -234,7 +234,10 @@
         # Create a deeply nested structure.
         head = last = []
         # The max stack depth should match the value in Python/marshal.c.
-        MAX_MARSHAL_STACK_DEPTH = 2000
+        if os.name == 'nt' and hasattr(sys, 'gettotalrefcount'):
+            MAX_MARSHAL_STACK_DEPTH = 1000
+        else:
+            MAX_MARSHAL_STACK_DEPTH = 2000
         for i in range(MAX_MARSHAL_STACK_DEPTH - 2):
             last.append([0])
             last = last[-1]
diff --git a/Python/marshal.c b/Python/marshal.c
index 6b285aa..e1a84d0 100644
--- a/Python/marshal.c
+++ b/Python/marshal.c
@@ -16,8 +16,13 @@
 /* High water mark to determine when the marshalled object is dangerously deep
  * and risks coring the interpreter.  When the object stack gets this deep,
  * raise an exception instead of continuing.
+ * On Windows debug builds, reduce this value.
  */
+#if defined(MS_WINDOWS) && defined(_DEBUG)
+#define MAX_MARSHAL_STACK_DEPTH 1000
+#else
 #define MAX_MARSHAL_STACK_DEPTH 2000
+#endif
 
 #define TYPE_NULL               '0'
 #define TYPE_NONE               'N'