diff --git a/Documentation/config/reftable.txt b/Documentation/config/reftable.txt
index 2374be71d7df85..68083876fa556d 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/reftable.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/reftable.txt
@@ -30,3 +30,9 @@ A maximum of `65535` restart points per block is supported.
 +
 The default value is to create restart points every 16 records. A value of `0`
 will use the default value.
+
+reftable.indexObjects::
+	Whether the reftable backend shall write object blocks. Object blocks
+	are a reverse mapping of object ID to the references pointing to them.
++
+The default value is `true`.
diff --git a/refs/reftable-backend.c b/refs/reftable-backend.c
index a2880aabce3900..5ffb36770a810f 100644
--- a/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -245,6 +245,8 @@ static int reftable_be_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 		if (restart_interval > UINT16_MAX)
 			die("reftable block size cannot exceed %u", (unsigned)UINT16_MAX);
 		opts->restart_interval = restart_interval;
+	} else if (!strcmp(var, "reftable.indexobjects")) {
+		opts->skip_index_objects = !git_config_bool(var, value);
 	}
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
index e0a5b26f58fc0a..e2708e11d5b941 100755
--- a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
+++ b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
@@ -214,4 +214,73 @@ test_expect_success 'restart interval exceeding maximum supported interval' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'object index gets written by default with ref index' '
+	test_config_global core.logAllRefUpdates false &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		test_commit initial &&
+		for i in $(test_seq 5)
+		do
+			printf "update refs/heads/branch-%d HEAD\n" "$i" ||
+			return 1
+		done >input &&
+		git update-ref --stdin <input &&
+		git -c reftable.blockSize=100 pack-refs &&
+
+		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+		header:
+		  block_size: 100
+		ref:
+		  - length: 53
+		    restarts: 1
+		  - length: 95
+		    restarts: 1
+		  - length: 71
+		    restarts: 1
+		  - length: 80
+		    restarts: 1
+		obj:
+		  - length: 11
+		    restarts: 1
+		EOF
+		test-tool dump-reftable -b .git/reftable/*.ref >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'object index can be disabled' '
+	test_config_global core.logAllRefUpdates false &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		test_commit initial &&
+		for i in $(test_seq 5)
+		do
+			printf "update refs/heads/branch-%d HEAD\n" "$i" ||
+			return 1
+		done >input &&
+		git update-ref --stdin <input &&
+		git -c reftable.blockSize=100 -c reftable.indexObjects=false pack-refs &&
+
+		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+		header:
+		  block_size: 100
+		ref:
+		  - length: 53
+		    restarts: 1
+		  - length: 95
+		    restarts: 1
+		  - length: 71
+		    restarts: 1
+		  - length: 80
+		    restarts: 1
+		EOF
+		test-tool dump-reftable -b .git/reftable/*.ref >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
 test_done