diff --git a/Documentation/diff-options.adoc b/Documentation/diff-options.adoc
index 640eb6e7db..8bb523d933 100644
--- a/Documentation/diff-options.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/diff-options.adoc
@@ -887,5 +887,31 @@ endif::git-format-patch[]
 	reverted with `--ita-visible-in-index`. Both options are
 	experimental and could be removed in future.
 
+--max-depth=<n>::
+
+	Limit diff recursion to `<n>` levels (implies `-r`). The depth
+	is measured from the closest pathspec. Given a tree containing
+	`foo/bar/baz`, the following list shows the matches generated by
+	each set of options:
++
+--
+ - `--max-depth=0 -- foo`: `foo`
+
+ - `--max-depth=1 -- foo`: `foo/bar`
+
+ - `--max-depth=2 -- foo`: `foo/bar/baz`
+
+ - `--max-depth=1 -- foo/bar`: `foo/bar/baz`
+--
++
+If no pathspec is given, the depth is measured as if all
+top-level entries were specified. Note that this is different
+than measuring from the root, in that `--max-depth=0` would
+still return `foo`. This allows you to still limit depth while
+asking for a subset of the top-level entries.
++
+Note that this option is only supported for diffs between tree objects,
+not against the index or working tree.
+
 For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].
diff --git a/diff-lib.c b/diff-lib.c
index 353b473ed5..34d61cc6a0 100644
--- a/diff-lib.c
+++ b/diff-lib.c
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ void run_diff_files(struct rev_info *revs, unsigned int option)
 	uint64_t start = getnanotime();
 	struct index_state *istate = revs->diffopt.repo->index;
 
+	if (revs->diffopt.max_depth_valid)
+		die("max-depth is not supported for worktree diffs");
+
 	diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(&revs->diffopt, "i/", "w/");
 
 	refresh_fsmonitor(istate);
@@ -560,6 +563,8 @@ static int diff_cache(struct rev_info *revs,
 	opts.dst_index = NULL;
 	opts.pathspec = &revs->diffopt.pathspec;
 	opts.pathspec->recursive = 1;
+	if (revs->diffopt.max_depth_valid)
+		die("max-depth is not supported for index diffs");
 
 	init_tree_desc(&t, &tree->object.oid, tree->buffer, tree->size);
 	return unpack_trees(1, &t, &opts);
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index c89c15d98e..acf2212a4a 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -4986,6 +4986,9 @@ void diff_setup_done(struct diff_options *options)
 			options->filter = ~filter_bit[DIFF_STATUS_FILTER_AON];
 		options->filter &= ~options->filter_not;
 	}
+
+	if (options->pathspec.has_wildcard && options->max_depth_valid)
+		die("max-depth cannot be used with wildcard pathspecs");
 }
 
 int parse_long_opt(const char *opt, const char **argv,
@@ -5620,6 +5623,18 @@ static int diff_opt_rotate_to(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int uns
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int diff_opt_max_depth(const struct option *opt,
+			      const char *arg, int unset)
+{
+	struct diff_options *options = opt->value;
+
+	BUG_ON_OPT_NEG(unset);
+	options->flags.recursive = 1;
+	options->max_depth = strtol(arg, NULL, 10);
+	options->max_depth_valid = 1;
+	return 0;
+}
+
 /*
  * Consider adding new flags to __git_diff_common_options
  * in contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
@@ -5895,6 +5910,9 @@ struct option *add_diff_options(const struct option *opts,
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "output", options, N_("<file>"),
 		  N_("output to a specific file"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_NONEG, NULL, 0, diff_opt_output },
+		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "max-depth", options, N_("<depth>"),
+			       N_("maximum tree depth to recurse"),
+			       PARSE_OPT_NONEG, diff_opt_max_depth),
 
 		OPT_END()
 	};
diff --git a/diff.h b/diff.h
index ff0348e4a9..a07d2178c4 100644
--- a/diff.h
+++ b/diff.h
@@ -396,6 +396,15 @@ struct diff_options {
 	struct strmap *additional_path_headers;
 
 	int no_free;
+
+	/*
+	 * The extra "valid" flag is a slight hack. The value "0" is perfectly
+	 * valid for max-depth. We would normally use -1 to indicate "not set",
+	 * but there are many code paths which assume that assume that just
+	 * zero-ing out a diff_options is enough to initialize it.
+	 */
+	int max_depth;
+	int max_depth_valid;
 };
 
 unsigned diff_filter_bit(char status);
diff --git a/t/meson.build b/t/meson.build
index a59da26be3..950d1b7483 100644
--- a/t/meson.build
+++ b/t/meson.build
@@ -500,6 +500,7 @@ integration_tests = [
   't4067-diff-partial-clone.sh',
   't4068-diff-symmetric-merge-base.sh',
   't4069-remerge-diff.sh',
+  't4071-diff-max-depth.sh',
   't4100-apply-stat.sh',
   't4101-apply-nonl.sh',
   't4102-apply-rename.sh',
diff --git a/t/t4071-diff-max-depth.sh b/t/t4071-diff-max-depth.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1545ebb869
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t4071-diff-max-depth.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='check that diff --max-depth will limit recursion'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+make_dir() {
+	mkdir -p "$1" &&
+	echo "$2" >"$1/file"
+}
+
+make_files() {
+	echo "$1" >file &&
+	make_dir one "$1" &&
+	make_dir one/two "$1" &&
+	make_dir one/two/three "$1"
+}
+
+test_expect_success 'setup' '
+	git commit --allow-empty -m empty &&
+	git tag empty &&
+	make_files added &&
+	git add . &&
+	git commit -m added &&
+	make_files modified &&
+	git add . &&
+	git commit -m modified &&
+	make_files index &&
+	git add . &&
+	make_files worktree
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--max-depth is disallowed with wildcard pathspecs' '
+	test_must_fail git diff-tree --max-depth=0 HEAD^ HEAD -- "f*"
+'
+
+check_one() {
+	type=$1; shift
+	args=$1; shift
+	path=$1; shift
+	depth=$1; shift
+	test_expect_${expect:-success} "diff-$type $args, path=$path, depth=$depth" "
+		for i in $*; do echo \$i; done >expect &&
+		git diff-$type --max-depth=$depth --name-only $args -- $path >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	"
+}
+
+# For tree comparisons, we expect to see subtrees at the boundary
+# get their own entry.
+check_trees() {
+	check_one tree "$*" '' 0 file one
+	check_one tree "$*" '' 1 file one/file one/two
+	check_one tree "$*" '' 2 file one/file one/two/file one/two/three
+	check_one tree "$*" '' 3 file one/file one/two/file one/two/three/file
+	check_one tree "$*" one 0 one
+	check_one tree "$*" one 1 one/file one/two
+	check_one tree "$*" one 2 one/file one/two/file one/two/three
+	check_one tree "$*" one 3 one/file one/two/file one/two/three/file
+	check_one tree "$*" one/two 0 one/two
+	check_one tree "$*" one/two 1 one/two/file one/two/three
+	check_one tree "$*" one/two 2 one/two/file one/two/three/file
+	check_one tree "$*" one/two/three 0 one/two/three
+	check_one tree "$*" one/two/three 1 one/two/three/file
+}
+
+# But for index comparisons, we do not store subtrees at all, so we do not
+# expect them.
+check_index() {
+	check_one "$@" '' 0 file
+	check_one "$@" '' 1 file one/file
+	check_one "$@" '' 2 file one/file one/two/file
+	check_one "$@" '' 3 file one/file one/two/file one/two/three/file
+	check_one "$@" one 0
+	check_one "$@" one 1 one/file
+	check_one "$@" one 2 one/file one/two/file
+	check_one "$@" one 3 one/file one/two/file one/two/three/file
+	check_one "$@" one/two 0
+	check_one "$@" one/two 1 one/two/file
+	check_one "$@" one/two 2 one/two/file one/two/three/file
+	check_one "$@" one/two/three 0
+	check_one "$@" one/two/three 1 one/two/three/file
+}
+
+# Check as a modification...
+check_trees HEAD^ HEAD
+# ...and as an addition...
+check_trees empty HEAD
+# ...and as a deletion.
+check_trees HEAD empty
+
+# We currently only implement max-depth for trees.
+expect=failure
+# Check index against a tree
+check_index index "--cached HEAD"
+# and index against the worktree
+check_index files ""
+expect=
+
+test_expect_success 'find shortest path within embedded pathspecs' '
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	one/file
+	one/two/file
+	one/two/three/file
+	EOF
+	git diff-tree --max-depth=2 --name-only HEAD^ HEAD -- one one/two >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_done
diff --git a/tree-diff.c b/tree-diff.c
index 60c558c2b5..2a744dfaec 100644
--- a/tree-diff.c
+++ b/tree-diff.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "tree-walk.h"
 #include "environment.h"
 #include "repository.h"
+#include "dir.h"
 
 /*
  * Some mode bits are also used internally for computations.
@@ -48,6 +49,73 @@
 		free((x)); \
 } while(0)
 
+/* Returns true if and only if "dir" is a leading directory of "path" */
+static int is_dir_prefix(const char *path, const char *dir, int dirlen)
+{
+	return !strncmp(path, dir, dirlen) &&
+		(!path[dirlen] || path[dirlen] == '/');
+}
+
+static int check_recursion_depth(struct strbuf *name,
+				 const struct pathspec *ps,
+				 int max_depth)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	if (!ps->nr)
+		return within_depth(name->buf, name->len, 1, max_depth);
+
+	/*
+	 * We look through the pathspecs in reverse-sorted order, because we
+	 * want to find the longest match first (e.g., "a/b" is better for
+	 * checking depth than "a/b/c").
+	 */
+	for (i = ps->nr - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
+		const struct pathspec_item *item = ps->items+i;
+
+		/*
+		 * If the name to match is longer than the pathspec, then we
+		 * are only interested if the pathspec matches and we are
+		 * within the allowed depth.
+		 */
+		if (name->len >= item->len) {
+			if (!is_dir_prefix(name->buf, item->match, item->len))
+				continue;
+			return within_depth(name->buf + item->len,
+					    name->len - item->len,
+					    1, max_depth);
+		}
+
+		/*
+		 * Otherwise, our name is shorter than the pathspec. We need to
+		 * check if it is a prefix of the pathspec; if so, we must
+		 * always recurse in order to process further (the resulting
+		 * paths we find might or might not match our pathspec, but we
+		 * cannot know until we recurse).
+		 */
+		if (is_dir_prefix(item->match, name->buf, name->len))
+			return 1;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int should_recurse(struct strbuf *name, struct diff_options *opt)
+{
+	if (!opt->flags.recursive)
+		return 0;
+	if (!opt->max_depth_valid)
+		return 1;
+
+	/*
+	 * We catch this during diff_setup_done, but let's double-check
+	 * against any internal munging.
+	 */
+	if (opt->pathspec.has_wildcard)
+		die("BUG: wildcard pathspecs are incompatible with max-depth");
+
+	return check_recursion_depth(name, &opt->pathspec, opt->max_depth);
+}
+
 static void ll_diff_tree_paths(
 	struct combine_diff_path ***tail, const struct object_id *oid,
 	const struct object_id **parents_oid, int nparent,
@@ -170,9 +238,13 @@ static void emit_path(struct combine_diff_path ***tail,
 		mode = 0;
 	}
 
-	if (opt->flags.recursive && isdir) {
-		recurse = 1;
-		emitthis = opt->flags.tree_in_recursive;
+	if (isdir) {
+		strbuf_add(base, path, pathlen);
+		if (should_recurse(base, opt)) {
+			recurse = 1;
+			emitthis = opt->flags.tree_in_recursive;
+		}
+		strbuf_setlen(base, old_baselen);
 	}
 
 	if (emitthis) {
