diff --git a/Documentation/git-repack.adoc b/Documentation/git-repack.adoc
index 11db43b1c5..e1cd75eebe 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-repack.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-repack.adoc
@@ -81,6 +81,15 @@ to the new separate pack will be written.
 	`--max-pack-size` (if any) by default. See the documentation for
 	`--max-pack-size` for more details.
 
+--combine-cruft-below-size=<n>::
+	When generating cruft packs without pruning, only repack
+	existing cruft packs whose size is strictly less than `<n>`,
+	where `<n>` represents a number of bytes, which can optionally
+	be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g". Cruft packs whose size is
+	greater than or equal to `<n>` are left as-is and not repacked.
+	Useful when you want to avoid repacking large cruft pack(s) in
+	repositories that have many and/or large unreachable objects.
+
 --expire-to=<dir>::
 	Write a cruft pack containing pruned objects (if any) to the
 	directory `<dir>`. This option is useful for keeping a copy of
diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index 9658f6b354..f3330ade7b 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -1022,20 +1022,13 @@ static int write_filtered_pack(const struct pack_objects_args *args,
 	return finish_pack_objects_cmd(&cmd, names, local);
 }
 
-static void collapse_small_cruft_packs(FILE *in, size_t max_size UNUSED,
-				       struct existing_packs *existing)
+static void combine_small_cruft_packs(FILE *in, size_t combine_cruft_below_size,
+				      struct existing_packs *existing)
 {
 	struct packed_git *p;
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
 	size_t i;
 
-	/*
-	 * Squelch a -Wunused-function warning while we rationalize
-	 * the behavior of --max-cruft-size. This function will become
-	 * used again in a future commit.
-	 */
-	(void)retain_cruft_pack;
-
 	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
 		if (!(p->is_cruft && p->pack_local))
 			continue;
@@ -1047,7 +1040,12 @@ static void collapse_small_cruft_packs(FILE *in, size_t max_size UNUSED,
 		if (!string_list_has_string(&existing->cruft_packs, buf.buf))
 			continue;
 
-		fprintf(in, "-%s.pack\n", buf.buf);
+		if (p->pack_size < combine_cruft_below_size) {
+			fprintf(in, "-%s\n", pack_basename(p));
+		} else {
+			retain_cruft_pack(existing, p);
+			fprintf(in, "%s\n", pack_basename(p));
+		}
 	}
 
 	for (i = 0; i < existing->non_kept_packs.nr; i++)
@@ -1061,6 +1059,7 @@ static int write_cruft_pack(const struct pack_objects_args *args,
 			    const char *destination,
 			    const char *pack_prefix,
 			    const char *cruft_expiration,
+			    unsigned long combine_cruft_below_size,
 			    struct string_list *names,
 			    struct existing_packs *existing)
 {
@@ -1103,8 +1102,9 @@ static int write_cruft_pack(const struct pack_objects_args *args,
 	in = xfdopen(cmd.in, "w");
 	for_each_string_list_item(item, names)
 		fprintf(in, "%s-%s.pack\n", pack_prefix, item->string);
-	if (args->max_pack_size && !cruft_expiration) {
-		collapse_small_cruft_packs(in, args->max_pack_size, existing);
+	if (combine_cruft_below_size && !cruft_expiration) {
+		combine_small_cruft_packs(in, combine_cruft_below_size,
+					  existing);
 	} else {
 		for_each_string_list_item(item, &existing->non_kept_packs)
 			fprintf(in, "-%s.pack\n", item->string);
@@ -1158,6 +1158,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc,
 	const char *opt_window_memory = NULL;
 	const char *opt_depth = NULL;
 	const char *opt_threads = NULL;
+	unsigned long combine_cruft_below_size = 0ul;
 
 	struct option builtin_repack_options[] = {
 		OPT_BIT('a', NULL, &pack_everything,
@@ -1170,6 +1171,9 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc,
 				   PACK_CRUFT),
 		OPT_STRING(0, "cruft-expiration", &cruft_expiration, N_("approxidate"),
 				N_("with --cruft, expire objects older than this")),
+		OPT_MAGNITUDE(0, "combine-cruft-below-size",
+			      &combine_cruft_below_size,
+			      N_("with --cruft, only repack cruft packs smaller than this")),
 		OPT_MAGNITUDE(0, "max-cruft-size", &cruft_po_args.max_pack_size,
 				N_("with --cruft, limit the size of new cruft packs")),
 		OPT_BOOL('d', NULL, &delete_redundant,
@@ -1413,7 +1417,8 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc,
 		cruft_po_args.quiet = po_args.quiet;
 
 		ret = write_cruft_pack(&cruft_po_args, packtmp, pack_prefix,
-				       cruft_expiration, &names,
+				       cruft_expiration,
+				       combine_cruft_below_size, &names,
 				       &existing);
 		if (ret)
 			goto cleanup;
@@ -1440,10 +1445,17 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc,
 			 * generate an empty pack (since every object not in the
 			 * cruft pack generated above will have an mtime older
 			 * than the expiration).
+			 *
+			 * Pretend we don't have a `--combine-cruft-below-size`
+			 * argument, since we're not selectively combining
+			 * anything based on size to generate the limbo cruft
+			 * pack, but rather removing all cruft packs from the
+			 * main repository regardless of size.
 			 */
 			ret = write_cruft_pack(&cruft_po_args, expire_to,
 					       pack_prefix,
 					       NULL,
+					       0ul,
 					       &names,
 					       &existing);
 			if (ret)
diff --git a/t/t7704-repack-cruft.sh b/t/t7704-repack-cruft.sh
index 6debad368d..8aebfb45f5 100755
--- a/t/t7704-repack-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t7704-repack-cruft.sh
@@ -194,10 +194,13 @@ test_expect_success '--max-cruft-size combines existing packs when not too large
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_failure '--max-cruft-size combines smaller packs first' '
-	git init max-cruft-size-consume-small &&
+test_expect_success '--combine-cruft-below-size combines packs' '
+	repo=combine-cruft-below-size &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr $repo" &&
+
+	git init "$repo" &&
 	(
-		cd max-cruft-size-consume-small &&
+		cd "$repo" &&
 
 		test_commit base &&
 		git repack -ad &&
@@ -211,11 +214,11 @@ test_expect_failure '--max-cruft-size combines smaller packs first' '
 		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename $cruft_bar)" >>expect.raw &&
 		sort expect.raw >expect.objects &&
 
-		# repacking with `--max-cruft-size=2M` should combine
-		# both 0.5 MiB packs together, instead of, say, one of
-		# the 0.5 MiB packs with the 1.0 MiB pack
+		# Repacking with `--combine-cruft-below-size=1M`
+		# should combine both 0.5 MiB packs together, but
+		# ignore the two packs which are >= 1.0 MiB.
 		ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes | sort >cruft.before &&
-		git repack -d --cruft --max-cruft-size=2M &&
+		git repack -d --cruft --combine-cruft-below-size=1M &&
 		ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes | sort >cruft.after &&
 
 		comm -13 cruft.before cruft.after >cruft.new &&
@@ -224,11 +227,12 @@ test_expect_failure '--max-cruft-size combines smaller packs first' '
 		test_line_count = 1 cruft.new &&
 		test_line_count = 2 cruft.removed &&
 
-		# the two smaller packs should be rolled up first
+		# The two packs smaller than 1.0MiB should be repacked
+		# together.
 		printf "%s\n" $cruft_foo $cruft_bar | sort >expect.removed &&
 		test_cmp expect.removed cruft.removed &&
 
-		# ...and contain the set of objects rolled up
+		# ...and contain the set of objects rolled up.
 		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename $(cat cruft.new))" >actual.raw &&
 		sort actual.raw >actual.objects &&