diff --git a/tools/perf/util/session.c b/tools/perf/util/session.c
index 0ec92d47373c..5596bed1b8c8 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/session.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/session.c
@@ -2050,6 +2050,7 @@ static int __perf_session__process_pipe_events(struct perf_session *session)
 {
 	struct ordered_events *oe = &session->ordered_events;
 	struct perf_tool *tool = session->tool;
+	struct ui_progress prog;
 	union perf_event *event;
 	uint32_t size, cur_size = 0;
 	void *buf = NULL;
@@ -2057,9 +2058,21 @@ static int __perf_session__process_pipe_events(struct perf_session *session)
 	u64 head;
 	ssize_t err;
 	void *p;
+	bool update_prog = false;
 
 	perf_tool__fill_defaults(tool);
 
+	/*
+	 * If it's from a file saving pipe data (by redirection), it would have
+	 * a file name other than "-".  Then we can get the total size and show
+	 * the progress.
+	 */
+	if (strcmp(session->data->path, "-") && session->data->file.size) {
+		ui_progress__init_size(&prog, session->data->file.size,
+				       "Processing events...");
+		update_prog = true;
+	}
+
 	head = 0;
 	cur_size = sizeof(union perf_event);
 
@@ -2131,6 +2144,9 @@ more:
 	if (err)
 		goto out_err;
 
+	if (update_prog)
+		ui_progress__update(&prog, size);
+
 	if (!session_done())
 		goto more;
 done:
@@ -2144,6 +2160,8 @@ done:
 	err = perf_session__flush_thread_stacks(session);
 out_err:
 	free(buf);
+	if (update_prog)
+		ui_progress__finish();
 	if (!tool->no_warn)
 		perf_session__warn_about_errors(session);
 	ordered_events__free(&session->ordered_events);
@@ -2523,7 +2541,7 @@ static int __perf_session__process_dir_events(struct perf_session *session)
 
 	perf_tool__fill_defaults(tool);
 
-	ui_progress__init_size(&prog, total_size, "Sorting events...");
+	ui_progress__init_size(&prog, total_size, "Processing events...");
 
 	nr_readers = 1;
 	for (i = 0; i < data->dir.nr; i++) {