diff --git a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc
index 65cd00c152..5e42e4429d 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git pack-objects' [-q | --progress | --all-progress] [--all-progress-implied]
-		   [--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty]
+		   [--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--no-ref-delta]
+		   [--non-empty]
 		   [--local] [--incremental] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
 		   [--revs [--unpacked | --all]] [--keep-pack=<pack-name>]
 		   [--cruft] [--cruft-expiration=<time>]
@@ -297,6 +298,11 @@ Note: Porcelain commands such as `git gc` (see linkgit:git-gc[1]),
 in modern Git when they put objects in your repository into pack files.
 So does `git bundle` (see linkgit:git-bundle[1]) when it creates a bundle.
 
+--no-ref-delta::
+	Do not emit deltas which represent their base by their literal
+	object ID. This is independent of `--delta-base-offset`;
+	without that option, no deltas are emitted.
+
 --threads=<n>::
 	Specifies the number of threads to spawn when searching for best
 	delta matches.  This requires that pack-objects be compiled with
diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index e3760b3492..c3574fcb8a 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -190,7 +190,8 @@ static inline void oe_set_delta_size(struct packing_data *pack,
 
 static const char *const pack_usage[] = {
 	N_("git pack-objects [-q | --progress | --all-progress] [--all-progress-implied]\n"
-	   "                 [--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty]\n"
+	   "                 [--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--no-ref-delta]\n"
+	   "                 [--non-empty]\n"
 	   "                 [--local] [--incremental] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]\n"
 	   "                 [--revs [--unpacked | --all]] [--keep-pack=<pack-name>]\n"
 	   "                 [--cruft] [--cruft-expiration=<time>]\n"
@@ -221,6 +222,7 @@ static int ignore_packed_keep_in_core;
 static int ignore_packed_keep_in_core_open;
 static int ignore_packed_keep_in_core_has_cruft;
 static int allow_ofs_delta;
+static int allow_ref_delta = 1;
 static struct pack_idx_option pack_idx_opts;
 static const char *base_name;
 static int progress = 1;
@@ -3405,6 +3407,9 @@ static int should_attempt_deltas(struct object_entry *entry)
 	if (entry->no_try_delta)
 		return 0;
 
+	if (entry->preferred_base && !allow_ref_delta)
+		return 0;
+
 	if (!entry->preferred_base) {
 		if (oe_type(entry) < 0)
 			die(_("unable to get type of object %s"),
@@ -3647,7 +3652,8 @@ static void prepare_pack(int window, int depth)
 	if (!pack_to_stdout)
 		do_check_packed_object_crc = 1;
 
-	if (!to_pack.nr_objects || !window || !depth)
+	if (!to_pack.nr_objects || !window || !depth ||
+	    (!allow_ref_delta && !allow_ofs_delta))
 		return;
 
 	if (path_walk)
@@ -4662,7 +4668,7 @@ static int pack_options_allow_reuse(void)
 	       !ignore_packed_keep_on_disk &&
 	       !ignore_packed_keep_in_core &&
 	       (!local || !have_non_local_packs) &&
-	       !incremental;
+	       !incremental && allow_ref_delta;
 }
 
 static int get_object_list_from_bitmap(struct rev_info *revs)
@@ -5111,6 +5117,8 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc,
 			 N_("reuse existing objects")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "delta-base-offset", &allow_ofs_delta,
 			 N_("use OFS_DELTA objects")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "ref-delta", &allow_ref_delta,
+			 N_("use REF_DELTA objects")),
 		OPT_INTEGER(0, "threads", &delta_search_threads,
 			    N_("use threads when searching for best delta matches")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "non-empty", &non_empty,
@@ -5309,7 +5317,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc,
 	if (unpack_unreachable || keep_unreachable || pack_loose_unreachable)
 		use_internal_rev_list = 1;
 
-	if (!reuse_object)
+	if (!reuse_object || !allow_ref_delta)
 		reuse_delta = 0;
 	if (cfg->pack_compression_level == -1)
 		cfg->pack_compression_level = Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION;
diff --git a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
index 4bee490ff6..b9e36044b9 100755
--- a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
+++ b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
@@ -211,6 +211,58 @@ test_expect_success 'pack with OFS_DELTA' '
 	test_grep " OFS_DELTA " deltas
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'pack without REF_DELTA' '
+	git pack-objects --no-ref-delta --stdout <obj-list >no-ref.pack &&
+	git index-pack -o no-ref.idx no-ref.pack &&
+
+	test-tool pack-deltas --list-deltas no-ref.idx >deltas &&
+	test_must_be_empty deltas
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'pack without REF_DELTA with OFS_DELTA' '
+	git pack-objects --delta-base-offset --no-ref-delta --stdout \
+		<obj-list >no-ref-ofs.pack &&
+	git index-pack -o no-ref-ofs.idx no-ref-ofs.pack &&
+
+	test-tool pack-deltas --list-deltas no-ref-ofs.idx >deltas &&
+	test_grep " OFS_DELTA " deltas &&
+	test_grep ! " REF_DELTA " deltas
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'pack without REF_DELTA skips excluded delta bases' '
+	test_when_finished "git read-tree $tree" &&
+
+	echo bar >>d &&
+	git update-index --add d &&
+	thin_tree=$(git write-tree) &&
+	thin_commit=$(git commit-tree $thin_tree -p $commit </dev/null) &&
+
+	{
+		echo $thin_commit &&
+		echo ^$commit
+	} >thin-revs &&
+
+	# Each type appears only once in the output, so any delta must
+	# use an excluded base and therefore be a REF_DELTA.
+	git pack-objects --thin --stdout --revs \
+		<thin-revs >thin.pack &&
+	git index-pack --fix-thin --stdin thin-fixed.pack \
+		<thin.pack >/dev/null &&
+
+	test-tool pack-deltas --list-deltas thin-fixed.idx >deltas &&
+	test_grep ! " OFS_DELTA " deltas &&
+	test_grep " REF_DELTA " deltas &&
+
+	git pack-objects --thin --stdout --revs \
+		--delta-base-offset --no-ref-delta \
+		<thin-revs >no-ref-thin.pack &&
+	git index-pack --fix-thin --stdin no-ref-thin-fixed.pack \
+		<no-ref-thin.pack >/dev/null &&
+
+	test-tool pack-deltas --list-deltas no-ref-thin-fixed.idx >deltas &&
+	test_must_be_empty deltas
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'unpack with OFS_DELTA' '
 	check_unpack test-3-${packname_3} obj-list
 '