diff --git a/Documentation/git-merge-file.txt b/Documentation/git-merge-file.txt
index d2fc12ec77b85a5c9457cbfa160e5c05c1a32f43..f85603261325f6f88b31c30b5fb2bafcded58d92 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-merge-file.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-merge-file.txt
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ lines from `<other-file>`, or lines from both respectively.  The length of the
 conflict markers can be given with the `--marker-size` option.
 
 The exit value of this program is negative on error, and the number of
-conflicts otherwise. If the merge was clean, the exit value is 0.
+conflicts otherwise (truncated to 127 if there are more than that many
+conflicts). If the merge was clean, the exit value is 0.
 
 'git merge-file' is designed to be a minimal clone of RCS 'merge'; that is, it
 implements all of RCS 'merge''s functionality which is needed by
diff --git a/builtin/merge-file.c b/builtin/merge-file.c
index 844f84f40bf0f8b9d95f4e9f0496c010386a9fb8..ab4330a3d0b0099c37acf12dbb3d02bd06b74287 100644
--- a/builtin/merge-file.c
+++ b/builtin/merge-file.c
@@ -102,5 +102,8 @@ int cmd_merge_file(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		free(result.ptr);
 	}
 
+	if (ret > 127)
+		ret = 127;
+
 	return ret;
 }
diff --git a/t/t7600-merge.sh b/t/t7600-merge.sh
index b16462132fd01f21cfd2af40a3c769803b0b7c50..ede496c76b3a1cd4e8d3bb7a0235b2bd1094df7a 100755
--- a/t/t7600-merge.sh
+++ b/t/t7600-merge.sh
@@ -692,4 +692,37 @@ test_expect_success GPG 'merge --no-edit tag should skip editor' '
 	test_cmp actual expect
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'set up mod-256 conflict scenario' '
+	# 256 near-identical stanzas...
+	for i in $(test_seq 1 256); do
+		for j in 1 2 3 4 5; do
+			echo $i-$j
+		done
+	done >file &&
+	git add file &&
+	git commit -m base &&
+
+	# one side changes the first line of each to "master"
+	sed s/-1/-master/ <file >tmp &&
+	mv tmp file &&
+	git commit -am master &&
+
+	# and the other to "side"; merging the two will
+	# yield 256 separate conflicts
+	git checkout -b side HEAD^ &&
+	sed s/-1/-side/ <file >tmp &&
+	mv tmp file &&
+	git commit -am side
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'merge detects mod-256 conflicts (recursive)' '
+	git reset --hard &&
+	test_must_fail git merge -s recursive master
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'merge detects mod-256 conflicts (resolve)' '
+	git reset --hard &&
+	test_must_fail git merge -s resolve master
+'
+
 test_done