diff --git a/builtin/gc.c b/builtin/gc.c
index 5f877b097a..8d22361fa9 100644
--- a/builtin/gc.c
+++ b/builtin/gc.c
@@ -1035,6 +1035,46 @@ static int multi_pack_index_expire(struct maintenance_run_opts *opts)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+#define TWO_GIGABYTES (INT32_MAX)
+
+static off_t get_auto_pack_size(void)
+{
+	/*
+	 * The "auto" value is special: we optimize for
+	 * one large pack-file (i.e. from a clone) and
+	 * expect the rest to be small and they can be
+	 * repacked quickly.
+	 *
+	 * The strategy we select here is to select a
+	 * size that is one more than the second largest
+	 * pack-file. This ensures that we will repack
+	 * at least two packs if there are three or more
+	 * packs.
+	 */
+	off_t max_size = 0;
+	off_t second_largest_size = 0;
+	off_t result_size;
+	struct packed_git *p;
+	struct repository *r = the_repository;
+
+	reprepare_packed_git(r);
+	for (p = get_all_packs(r); p; p = p->next) {
+		if (p->pack_size > max_size) {
+			second_largest_size = max_size;
+			max_size = p->pack_size;
+		} else if (p->pack_size > second_largest_size)
+			second_largest_size = p->pack_size;
+	}
+
+	result_size = second_largest_size + 1;
+
+	/* But limit ourselves to a batch size of 2g */
+	if (result_size > TWO_GIGABYTES)
+		result_size = TWO_GIGABYTES;
+
+	return result_size;
+}
+
 static int multi_pack_index_repack(struct maintenance_run_opts *opts)
 {
 	struct child_process child = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
@@ -1045,7 +1085,8 @@ static int multi_pack_index_repack(struct maintenance_run_opts *opts)
 	if (opts->quiet)
 		strvec_push(&child.args, "--no-progress");
 
-	strvec_push(&child.args, "--batch-size=0");
+	strvec_pushf(&child.args, "--batch-size=%"PRIuMAX,
+				  (uintmax_t)get_auto_pack_size());
 
 	close_object_store(the_repository->objects);
 
diff --git a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
index a2db2291b0..9e6ea23f35 100755
--- a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
+++ b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
@@ -181,10 +181,42 @@ test_expect_success 'incremental-repack task' '
 	test_line_count = 4 packs-between &&
 
 	# the job deletes the two old packs, and does not write
-	# a new one because only one pack remains.
+	# a new one because the batch size is not high enough to
+	# pack the largest pack-file.
 	git maintenance run --task=incremental-repack &&
 	ls .git/objects/pack/*.pack >packs-after &&
-	test_line_count = 1 packs-after
+	test_line_count = 2 packs-after
+'
+
+test_expect_success EXPENSIVE 'incremental-repack 2g limit' '
+	for i in $(test_seq 1 5)
+	do
+		test-tool genrandom foo$i $((512 * 1024 * 1024 + 1)) >>big ||
+		return 1
+	done &&
+	git add big &&
+	git commit -m "Add big file (1)" &&
+
+	# ensure any possible loose objects are in a pack-file
+	git maintenance run --task=loose-objects &&
+
+	rm big &&
+	for i in $(test_seq 6 10)
+	do
+		test-tool genrandom foo$i $((512 * 1024 * 1024 + 1)) >>big ||
+		return 1
+	done &&
+	git add big &&
+	git commit -m "Add big file (2)" &&
+
+	# ensure any possible loose objects are in a pack-file
+	git maintenance run --task=loose-objects &&
+
+	# Now run the incremental-repack task and check the batch-size
+	GIT_TRACE2_EVENT="$(pwd)/run-2g.txt" git maintenance run \
+		--task=incremental-repack 2>/dev/null &&
+	test_subcommand git multi-pack-index repack \
+		 --no-progress --batch-size=2147483647 <run-2g.txt
 '
 
 test_done