diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
index 75a1083..f6e41cc 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
@@ -361,16 +361,18 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::getArrayNItems() const
 QPDFObjectHandle
 QPDFObjectHandle::getArrayItem(int n) const
 {
-    if (auto array = as_array(strict)) {
-        if (auto const [success, oh] = array.at(n); success) {
-            return oh;
-        } else {
-            objectWarning("returning null for out of bounds array access");
-            QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFObjectHandle array bounds");
+    if (auto array = Array(*this)) {
+        if (auto result = array[n]) {
+            return result;
+        }
+        if (n >= 0 && std::cmp_less(n, array.size())) {
+            // sparse array null
+            return newNull();
         }
+        objectWarning("returning null for out of bounds array access");
+
     } else {
         typeWarning("array", "returning null");
-        QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFObjectHandle array null for non-array");
     }
     static auto constexpr msg = " -> null returned from invalid array access"sv;
     return QPDF_Null::create(obj, msg, "");
diff --git a/qpdf/qpdf.testcov b/qpdf/qpdf.testcov
index f1de4b6..237d052 100644
--- a/qpdf/qpdf.testcov
+++ b/qpdf/qpdf.testcov
@@ -290,7 +290,6 @@ QPDFParser bad token in parse 0
 QPDFParser bad token in parseRemainder 0
 QPDFParser eof in parse 0
 QPDFParser eof in parseRemainder 0
-QPDFObjectHandle array bounds 0
 QPDFObjectHandle boolean returning false 0
 QPDFObjectHandle integer returning 0 0
 QPDFObjectHandle real returning 0.0 0
@@ -299,7 +298,6 @@ QPDFObjectHandle string returning empty string 0
 QPDFObjectHandle string returning empty utf8 0
 QPDFObjectHandle operator returning fake value 0
 QPDFObjectHandle inlineimage returning empty data 0
-QPDFObjectHandle array null for non-array 0
 QPDFObjectHandle array treating as empty vector 0
 QPDFObjectHandle array ignoring set item 0
 QPDFObjectHandle set array bounds 0