diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/__init__.py b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/__init__.py
index 140e0124b3..ae6e5992eb 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/podofo/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/podofo/__init__.py
@@ -195,13 +195,11 @@ def test_podofo():
     raw = b"%PDF-1.1\n%\xe2\xe3\xcf\xd3\n1 0 obj<</Type/Catalog/Metadata 6 0 R/Pages 2 0 R>>\nendobj\n2 0 obj<</Type/Pages/Count 1/Kids[ 3 0 R]/MediaBox[ 0 0 300 144]>>\nendobj\n3 0 obj<</Type/Page/Contents 4 0 R/Parent 2 0 R/Resources<</Font<</F1<</Type/Font/BaseFont/Times-Roman/Subtype/Type1>>>>>>>>\nendobj\n4 0 obj<</Length 55>>\nstream\n  BT\n    /F1 18 Tf\n    0 0 Td\n    (Hello World) Tj\n  ET\nendstream\nendobj\n5 0 obj<</Author(\xfe\xff\x00U\x00n\x00k\x00n\x00o\x00w\x00n)/CreationDate(D:20140919134038+05'00')/Producer(PoDoFo - http://podofo.sf.net)/Title(\xfe\xff\x00n\x00e\x00w\x00t)>>\nendobj\n6 0 obj<</Type/Metadata/Filter/FlateDecode/Length 584/Subtype/XML>>\nstream\nx\x9c\xed\x98\xcd\xb2\x930\x14\xc7\xf7}\n&.\x1d\x1ahoGa\x80\x8e\xb6\xe3x\x17ua\xaf\xe3\xd2\t\xc9i\x1b\x0b\x81&a\xc0\xfbj.|$_\xc1\xd0r\xe9\xb7V\x9d\xbb\x83\x15\x9c\x9c\xff\xff\x97\x8fs\xb2 \x18W9\xa1k\xd0V\x0cK.B\xf4\xf3\xfb\x0fdq\x16\xa2\xcf\xa3\x993\xcb'\xb0\xe2\xef\x1f%\xcc\x1f?<\xd0\xc75\xf5\x18\x1aG\xbd\xa0\xf2\xab4OA\x13\xabJ\x13\xa1\xfc*D\x84e1\xf8\xe6\xbd\x0ec\x14\xf5,+\x90l\xe1\x7f\x9c\xbek\x92\xccW\x88VZ\xe7>\xc6eY\xf6\xcba?\x93K\xecz\x9e\x87\x9d\x01\x1e\x0cl\x93a\xaboB\x93\xca\x16\xea\xc5\xd6\xa3q\x99\x82\xa2\x92\xe7\x9ag\xa2qc\xb45\xcb\x0b\x99l\xad\x18\xc5\x90@\nB+\xec\xf6]\x8c\xacZK\xe2\xac\xd0!j\xec\x8c!\xa3>\xdb\xfb=\x85\x1b\xd2\x9bD\xef#M,\xe15\xd4O\x88X\x86\xa8\xb2\x19,H\x91h\x14\x05x7z`\x81O<\x02|\x99VOBs\x9d\xc0\x7f\xe0\x05\x94\xfa\xd6)\x1c\xb1jx^\xc4\tW+\x90'\x13xK\x96\xf8Hy\x96X\xabU\x11\x7f\x05\xaa\xff\xa4=I\xab\x95T\x02\xd1\xd9)u\x0e\x9b\x0b\xcb\x8e>\x89\xb5\xc8Jqm\x91\x07\xaa-\xee\xc8{\x972=\xdd\xfa+\xe5d\xea\xb9\xad'\xa1\xfa\xdbj\xee\xd3,\xc5\x15\xc9M-9\xa6\x96\xdaD\xce6Wr\xd3\x1c\xdf3S~|\xc1A\xe2MA\x92F{\xb1\x0eM\xba?3\xdd\xc2\x88&S\xa2!\x1a8\xee\x9d\xedx\xb6\xeb=\xb8C\xff\xce\xf1\x87\xaf\xfb\xde\xe0\xd5\xc8\xf3^:#\x7f\xe8\x04\xf8L\xf2\x0fK\xcd%W\xe9\xbey\xea/\xa5\x89`D\xb2m\x17\t\x92\x822\xb7\x02(\x1c\x13\xc5)\x1e\x9c-\x01\xff\x1e\xc0\x16\xd5\xe5\r\xaaG\xcc\x8e\x0c\xff\xca\x8e\x92\x84\xc7\x12&\x93\xd6\xb3\x89\xd8\x10g\xd9\xfai\xe7\xedv\xde6-\x94\xceR\x9bfI\x91\n\x85\x8e}nu9\x91\xcd\xefo\xc6+\x90\x1c\x94\xcd\x05\x83\xea\xca\xd17\x16\xbb\xb6\xfc\xa22\xa9\x9bn\xbe0p\xfd\x88wAs\xc3\x9a+\x19\xb7w\xf2a#=\xdf\xd3A:H\x07\xe9 \x1d\xa4\x83t\x90\x0e\xd2A:H\x07yNH/h\x7f\xd6\x80`!*\xd18\xfa\x05\x94\x80P\xb0\nendstream\nendobj\nxref\n0 7\n0000000000 65535 f \n0000000015 00000 n \n0000000074 00000 n \n0000000148 00000 n \n0000000280 00000 n \n0000000382 00000 n \n0000000522 00000 n \ntrailer\n<</ID[<4D028D512DEBEFD964756764AD8FF726><4D028D512DEBEFD964756764AD8FF726>]/Info 5 0 R/Root 1 0 R/Size 7>>\nstartxref\n1199\n%%EOF\n"  # noqa
     # }}}
     mi = Metadata('title1', ['author1'])
-    xmp_packet = metadata_to_xmp_packet(mi)
     podofo = get_podofo()
     p = podofo.PDFDoc()
     p.load(raw)
     p.title = mi.title
     p.author = mi.authors[0]
-    p.set_xmp_metadata(xmp_packet)
     with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix='.pdf', delete=False) as f:
         p.save_to_fileobj(f)
         f.seek(0)
@@ -215,8 +213,15 @@ def test_podofo():
         if (p.title, p.author) != (mi.title, mi.authors[0]):
             raise ValueError('podofo failed to set title and author in Info dict {} != {}'.format(
                 (p.title, p.author), (mi.title, mi.authors[0])))
-        if not p.get_xmp_metadata():
-            raise ValueError('podofo failed to write XMP packet')
+        xmp_packet = metadata_to_xmp_packet(mi)
+        xmp_packet = xmp_packet.replace(b'author1', b'changed_author')
+        p.set_xmp_metadata(xmp_packet)
+        raw = p.write()
+        p = podofo.PDFDoc()
+        p.load(raw)
+        xmp = p.get_xmp_metadata().decode()
+        if 'changed_author' not in xmp:
+            raise ValueError('Failed to set XML block, received:', xmp)
         del p
     finally:
         os.remove(f.name)