diff --git a/include/mimalloc/internal.h b/include/mimalloc/internal.h
index 8a61a58e..5c5afca0 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc/internal.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc/internal.h
@@ -479,11 +479,16 @@ static inline uint8_t* mi_page_start(const mi_page_t* page) {
   return page->page_start;
 }
 
+
 static inline uint8_t* mi_page_area(const mi_page_t* page, size_t* size) {
   if (size) { *size = mi_page_block_size(page) * page->reserved; }
   return mi_page_start(page);
 }
 
+static inline size_t mi_page_info_size(void) {
+  return _mi_align_up(sizeof(mi_page_t), MI_MAX_ALIGN_SIZE);
+}
+
 static inline bool mi_page_contains_address(const mi_page_t* page, const void* p) {
   size_t psize;
   uint8_t* start = mi_page_area(page, &psize);
diff --git a/include/mimalloc/types.h b/include/mimalloc/types.h
index 71edb397..dc1c93fe 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc/types.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc/types.h
@@ -323,13 +323,14 @@ typedef struct mi_page_s {
 // ------------------------------------------------------
 
 #define MI_PAGE_ALIGN                     MI_ARENA_SLICE_ALIGN // pages must be aligned on this for the page map.
-#define MI_PAGE_MIN_BLOCK_ALIGN           MI_SIZE_BITS         // minimal block alignment in a page (64b on 64-bit, 32b on 32-bit)
+#define MI_PAGE_MIN_START_BLOCK_ALIGN     MI_MAX_ALIGN_SIZE    // minimal block alignment for the first block in a page (16b)
+#define MI_PAGE_MAX_START_BLOCK_ALIGN2    MI_KiB               // maximal block alignment for "power of 2"-sized blocks 
 #define MI_PAGE_MAX_OVERALLOC_ALIGN       MI_ARENA_SLICE_SIZE  // (64 KiB) limit for which we overallocate in arena pages, beyond this use OS allocation
 
 #if (MI_ENCODE_FREELIST || MI_PADDING) && MI_SIZE_SIZE == 8
-#define MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE                 ((MI_INTPTR_SHIFT+2)*MI_PAGE_MIN_BLOCK_ALIGN)  // >= sizeof(mi_page_t)
+#define MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE                 ((MI_INTPTR_SHIFT+2)*32)  // 160    >= sizeof(mi_page_t)
 #else
-#define MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE                 ((MI_INTPTR_SHIFT+1)*MI_PAGE_MIN_BLOCK_ALIGN)  // >= sizeof(mi_page_t)
+#define MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE                 ((MI_INTPTR_SHIFT+1)*32)  // 128/96 >= sizeof(mi_page_t)
 #endif
 
 // The max object size are checked to not waste more than 12.5% internally over the page sizes.
diff --git a/src/alloc-aligned.c b/src/alloc-aligned.c
index 38e0371d..c36ce0af 100644
--- a/src/alloc-aligned.c
+++ b/src/alloc-aligned.c
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ static bool mi_malloc_is_naturally_aligned( size_t size, size_t alignment ) {
   mi_assert_internal(_mi_is_power_of_two(alignment) && (alignment > 0));
   if (alignment > size) return false;
   const size_t bsize = mi_good_size(size);
-  return (bsize <= MI_PAGE_MIN_BLOCK_ALIGN && (bsize & (alignment-1)) == 0);
+  const bool ok = (bsize <= MI_PAGE_MAX_START_BLOCK_ALIGN2 && _mi_is_power_of_two(bsize));
+  if (ok) { mi_assert_internal((bsize & (alignment-1)) == 0); } // since both power of 2 and alignment <= size
+  return ok;
 }
 
 #if MI_GUARDED
diff --git a/src/arena.c b/src/arena.c
index 9923eae1..a05e1f5d 100644
--- a/src/arena.c
+++ b/src/arena.c
@@ -621,25 +621,28 @@ static mi_page_t* mi_arena_page_alloc_fresh(size_t slice_count, size_t block_siz
     }
   }
   #endif
-  if (MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE < _mi_align_up(sizeof(*page), MI_PAGE_MIN_BLOCK_ALIGN)) {
-    _mi_error_message(EFAULT, "fatal internal error: MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE is too small.\n");
-  };
+  mi_assert(MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE >= mi_page_info_size());
   size_t block_start;
   #if MI_GUARDED
-  // in a guarded build, we aling pages with blocks a multiple of an OS page size, to the OS page size
+  // in a guarded build, we align pages with blocks a multiple of an OS page size, to the OS page size
   // this ensures that all blocks in such pages are OS page size aligned (which is needed for the guard pages)
   const size_t os_page_size = _mi_os_page_size();
   mi_assert_internal(MI_PAGE_ALIGN >= os_page_size);
-  if (block_size % os_page_size == 0) {
-    block_start = _mi_align_up(MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE, os_page_size);
+  if (block_size % os_page_size == 0 && block_size > os_page_size /* at least 2 or more */ ) {
+    block_start = _mi_align_up(_mi_page_info_size(), os_page_size);
   }
   else
   #endif
   if (os_align) {
     block_start = MI_PAGE_ALIGN;
   }
+  else if (_mi_is_power_of_two(block_size) && block_size <= MI_PAGE_MAX_START_BLOCK_ALIGN2) {
+    // naturally align all power-of-2 blocks
+    block_start = _mi_align_up(mi_page_info_size(), block_size);
+  }
   else {
-    block_start = MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE;
+    // otherwise start after the info
+    block_start = mi_page_info_size();
   }
   const size_t reserved    = (os_align ? 1 : (mi_size_of_slices(slice_count) - block_start) / block_size);
   mi_assert_internal(reserved > 0 && reserved <= UINT16_MAX);
@@ -691,7 +694,7 @@ static mi_page_t* mi_singleton_page_alloc(mi_heap_t* heap, size_t block_size, si
   const mi_arena_id_t  req_arena_id = heap->arena_id;
   mi_tld_t* const tld = heap->tld;
   const bool os_align = (block_alignment > MI_PAGE_MAX_OVERALLOC_ALIGN);
-  const size_t info_size = (os_align ? MI_PAGE_ALIGN : MI_PAGE_INFO_SIZE);
+  const size_t info_size = (os_align ? MI_PAGE_ALIGN : mi_page_info_size());
   const size_t slice_count = mi_slice_count_of_size(info_size + block_size);
 
   mi_page_t* page = mi_arena_page_alloc_fresh(slice_count, block_size, block_alignment, req_arena_id, tld);