diff --git a/build_library/disk_util b/build_library/disk_util
index e47f0932a2..b00e54d11e 100755
--- a/build_library/disk_util
+++ b/build_library/disk_util
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ def FormatExt(part, device):
                   '-t', part['fs_type'],
                   '-b', part['fs_block_size'],
                   '-i', part.get('fs_bytes_per_inode', part['fs_block_size']),
-                  '-I', part.get('fs_inode_size', 128),
+                  '-I', part.get('fs_inode_size', 256),
                   device,
                   part['fs_blocks']])
 
diff --git a/changelog/changes/2023-06-22-ext4-inode-size.md b/changelog/changes/2023-06-22-ext4-inode-size.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dda2fcbd18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/changes/2023-06-22-ext4-inode-size.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Changed ext4 inode size of root partition to 256 bytes. This improves compatibility with applications and is necessary for 2038 readiness ([Flatcar#1082](https://github.com/flatcar/Flatcar/issues/1082))