diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 750c86d4f5..0906499e7d 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -442,8 +442,6 @@ for most projects as source code and other text files can still
 be delta compressed, but larger binary media files won't be.
 +
 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
-+
-Currently only linkgit:git-fast-import[1] honors this setting.
 
 core.excludesfile::
 	In addition to '.gitignore' (per-directory) and
diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index b0503b202a..f402a843bb 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -1142,8 +1142,12 @@ static void get_object_details(void)
 		sorted_by_offset[i] = objects + i;
 	qsort(sorted_by_offset, nr_objects, sizeof(*sorted_by_offset), pack_offset_sort);
 
-	for (i = 0; i < nr_objects; i++)
-		check_object(sorted_by_offset[i]);
+	for (i = 0; i < nr_objects; i++) {
+		struct object_entry *entry = sorted_by_offset[i];
+		check_object(entry);
+		if (big_file_threshold <= entry->size)
+			entry->no_try_delta = 1;
+	}
 
 	free(sorted_by_offset);
 }
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 2674f4cf5a..28899b7b78 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -573,6 +573,7 @@ extern int core_compression_seen;
 extern size_t packed_git_window_size;
 extern size_t packed_git_limit;
 extern size_t delta_base_cache_limit;
+extern unsigned long big_file_threshold;
 extern int read_replace_refs;
 extern int fsync_object_files;
 extern int core_preload_index;
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 0abcada938..d06fb19d51 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -567,6 +567,12 @@ static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(var, "core.bigfilethreshold")) {
+		long n = git_config_int(var, value);
+		big_file_threshold = 0 < n ? n : 0;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (!strcmp(var, "core.packedgitlimit")) {
 		packed_git_limit = git_config_int(var, value);
 		return 0;
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index f4549d3f7b..40185bc854 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ int fsync_object_files;
 size_t packed_git_window_size = DEFAULT_PACKED_GIT_WINDOW_SIZE;
 size_t packed_git_limit = DEFAULT_PACKED_GIT_LIMIT;
 size_t delta_base_cache_limit = 16 * 1024 * 1024;
+unsigned long big_file_threshold = 512 * 1024 * 1024;
 const char *pager_program;
 int pager_use_color = 1;
 const char *editor_program;
diff --git a/fast-import.c b/fast-import.c
index 65d65bf8f9..3e4e655bb9 100644
--- a/fast-import.c
+++ b/fast-import.c
@@ -274,7 +274,6 @@ struct recent_command {
 /* Configured limits on output */
 static unsigned long max_depth = 10;
 static off_t max_packsize;
-static uintmax_t big_file_threshold = 512 * 1024 * 1024;
 static int force_update;
 static int pack_compression_level = Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION;
 static int pack_compression_seen;
@@ -3206,10 +3205,6 @@ static int git_pack_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 		max_packsize = git_config_ulong(k, v);
 		return 0;
 	}
-	if (!strcmp(k, "core.bigfilethreshold")) {
-		long n = git_config_int(k, v);
-		big_file_threshold = 0 < n ? n : 0;
-	}
 	return git_default_config(k, v, cb);
 }