diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 78b7738621..9d84c8d799 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -366,6 +366,7 @@ LIB_H += refs.h
 LIB_H += remote.h
 LIB_H += revision.h
 LIB_H += run-command.h
+LIB_H += sha1-lookup.h
 LIB_H += sideband.h
 LIB_H += strbuf.h
 LIB_H += tag.h
@@ -446,6 +447,7 @@ LIB_OBJS += run-command.o
 LIB_OBJS += server-info.o
 LIB_OBJS += setup.o
 LIB_OBJS += sha1_file.o
+LIB_OBJS += sha1-lookup.o
 LIB_OBJS += sha1_name.o
 LIB_OBJS += shallow.o
 LIB_OBJS += sideband.o
diff --git a/sha1-lookup.c b/sha1-lookup.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4faa638caa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sha1-lookup.c
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+#include "cache.h"
+#include "sha1-lookup.h"
+
+/*
+ * Conventional binary search loop looks like this:
+ *
+ *	unsigned lo, hi;
+ *      do {
+ *              unsigned mi = (lo + hi) / 2;
+ *              int cmp = "entry pointed at by mi" minus "target";
+ *              if (!cmp)
+ *                      return (mi is the wanted one)
+ *              if (cmp > 0)
+ *                      hi = mi; "mi is larger than target"
+ *              else
+ *                      lo = mi+1; "mi is smaller than target"
+ *      } while (lo < hi);
+ *
+ * The invariants are:
+ *
+ * - When entering the loop, lo points at a slot that is never
+ *   above the target (it could be at the target), hi points at a
+ *   slot that is guaranteed to be above the target (it can never
+ *   be at the target).
+ *
+ * - We find a point 'mi' between lo and hi (mi could be the same
+ *   as lo, but never can be as same as hi), and check if it hits
+ *   the target.  There are three cases:
+ *
+ *    - if it is a hit, we are happy.
+ *
+ *    - if it is strictly higher than the target, we set it to hi,
+ *      and repeat the search.
+ *
+ *    - if it is strictly lower than the target, we update lo to
+ *      one slot after it, because we allow lo to be at the target.
+ *
+ *   If the loop exits, there is no matching entry.
+ *
+ * When choosing 'mi', we do not have to take the "middle" but
+ * anywhere in between lo and hi, as long as lo <= mi < hi is
+ * satisfied.  When we somehow know that the distance between the
+ * target and lo is much shorter than the target and hi, we could
+ * pick mi that is much closer to lo than the midway.
+ *
+ * Now, we can take advantage of the fact that SHA-1 is a good hash
+ * function, and as long as there are enough entries in the table, we
+ * can expect uniform distribution.  An entry that begins with for
+ * example "deadbeef..." is much likely to appear much later than in
+ * the midway of the table.  It can reasonably be expected to be near
+ * 87% (222/256) from the top of the table.
+ *
+ * The table at "table" holds at least "nr" entries of "elem_size"
+ * bytes each.  Each entry has the SHA-1 key at "key_offset".  The
+ * table is sorted by the SHA-1 key of the entries.  The caller wants
+ * to find the entry with "key", and knows that the entry at "lo" is
+ * not higher than the entry it is looking for, and that the entry at
+ * "hi" is higher than the entry it is looking for.
+ */
+int sha1_entry_pos(const void *table,
+		   size_t elem_size,
+		   size_t key_offset,
+		   unsigned lo, unsigned hi, unsigned nr,
+		   const unsigned char *key)
+{
+	const unsigned char *base = table;
+	const unsigned char *hi_key, *lo_key;
+	unsigned ofs_0;
+	static int debug_lookup = -1;
+
+	if (debug_lookup < 0)
+		debug_lookup = !!getenv("GIT_DEBUG_LOOKUP");
+
+	if (!nr || lo >= hi)
+		return -1;
+
+	if (nr == hi)
+		hi_key = NULL;
+	else
+		hi_key = base + elem_size * hi + key_offset;
+	lo_key = base + elem_size * lo + key_offset;
+
+	ofs_0 = 0;
+	do {
+		int cmp;
+		unsigned ofs, mi, range;
+		unsigned lov, hiv, kyv;
+		const unsigned char *mi_key;
+
+		range = hi - lo;
+		if (hi_key) {
+			for (ofs = ofs_0; ofs < 20; ofs++)
+				if (lo_key[ofs] != hi_key[ofs])
+					break;
+			ofs_0 = ofs;
+			/*
+			 * byte 0 thru (ofs-1) are the same between
+			 * lo and hi; ofs is the first byte that is
+			 * different.
+			 */
+			hiv = hi_key[ofs_0];
+			if (ofs_0 < 19)
+				hiv = (hiv << 8) | hi_key[ofs_0+1];
+		} else {
+			hiv = 256;
+			if (ofs_0 < 19)
+				hiv <<= 8;
+		}
+		lov = lo_key[ofs_0];
+		kyv = key[ofs_0];
+		if (ofs_0 < 19) {
+			lov = (lov << 8) | lo_key[ofs_0+1];
+			kyv = (kyv << 8) | key[ofs_0+1];
+		}
+		assert(lov < hiv);
+
+		if (kyv < lov)
+			return -1 - lo;
+		if (hiv < kyv)
+			return -1 - hi;
+
+		if (kyv == lov && lov < hiv - 1)
+			kyv++;
+		else if (kyv == hiv - 1 && lov < kyv)
+			kyv--;
+
+		mi = (range - 1) * (kyv - lov) / (hiv - lov) + lo;
+
+		if (debug_lookup) {
+			printf("lo %u hi %u rg %u mi %u ", lo, hi, range, mi);
+			printf("ofs %u lov %x, hiv %x, kyv %x\n",
+			       ofs_0, lov, hiv, kyv);
+		}
+		if (!(lo <= mi && mi < hi))
+			die("assertion failure lo %u mi %u hi %u %s",
+			    lo, mi, hi, sha1_to_hex(key));
+
+		mi_key = base + elem_size * mi + key_offset;
+		cmp = memcmp(mi_key + ofs_0, key + ofs_0, 20 - ofs_0);
+		if (!cmp)
+			return mi;
+		if (cmp > 0) {
+			hi = mi;
+			hi_key = mi_key;
+		}
+		else {
+			lo = mi + 1;
+			lo_key = mi_key + elem_size;
+		}
+	} while (lo < hi);
+	return -lo-1;
+}
diff --git a/sha1-lookup.h b/sha1-lookup.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3249a81b3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sha1-lookup.h
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#ifndef SHA1_LOOKUP_H
+#define SHA1_LOOKUP_H
+
+extern int sha1_entry_pos(const void *table,
+			  size_t elem_size,
+			  size_t key_offset,
+			  unsigned lo, unsigned hi, unsigned nr,
+			  const unsigned char *key);
+#endif
diff --git a/sha1_file.c b/sha1_file.c
index 445a871db3..c2ab7ea11d 100644
--- a/sha1_file.c
+++ b/sha1_file.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include "tree.h"
 #include "refs.h"
 #include "pack-revindex.h"
+#include "sha1-lookup.h"
 
 #ifndef O_NOATIME
 #if defined(__linux__) && (defined(__i386__) || defined(__PPC__))
@@ -1675,7 +1676,12 @@ off_t find_pack_entry_one(const unsigned char *sha1,
 {
 	const uint32_t *level1_ofs = p->index_data;
 	const unsigned char *index = p->index_data;
-	unsigned hi, lo;
+	unsigned hi, lo, stride;
+	static int use_lookup = -1;
+	static int debug_lookup = -1;
+
+	if (debug_lookup < 0)
+		debug_lookup = !!getenv("GIT_DEBUG_LOOKUP");
 
 	if (!index) {
 		if (open_pack_index(p))
@@ -1690,11 +1696,34 @@ off_t find_pack_entry_one(const unsigned char *sha1,
 	index += 4 * 256;
 	hi = ntohl(level1_ofs[*sha1]);
 	lo = ((*sha1 == 0x0) ? 0 : ntohl(level1_ofs[*sha1 - 1]));
+	if (p->index_version > 1) {
+		stride = 20;
+	} else {
+		stride = 24;
+		index += 4;
+	}
+
+	if (debug_lookup)
+		printf("%02x%02x%02x... lo %u hi %u nr %u\n",
+		       sha1[0], sha1[1], sha1[2], lo, hi, p->num_objects);
+
+	if (use_lookup < 0)
+		use_lookup = !!getenv("GIT_USE_LOOKUP");
+	if (use_lookup) {
+		int pos = sha1_entry_pos(index, stride, 0,
+					 lo, hi, p->num_objects, sha1);
+		if (pos < 0)
+			return 0;
+		return nth_packed_object_offset(p, pos);
+	}
 
 	do {
 		unsigned mi = (lo + hi) / 2;
-		unsigned x = (p->index_version > 1) ? (mi * 20) : (mi * 24 + 4);
-		int cmp = hashcmp(index + x, sha1);
+		int cmp = hashcmp(index + mi * stride, sha1);
+
+		if (debug_lookup)
+			printf("lo %u hi %u rg %u mi %u\n",
+			       lo, hi, hi - lo, mi);
 		if (!cmp)
 			return nth_packed_object_offset(p, mi);
 		if (cmp > 0)