diff --git a/Documentation/config/pack.adoc b/Documentation/config/pack.adoc
index 75402d5579..fa997c8597 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/pack.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/config/pack.adoc
@@ -160,12 +160,13 @@ pack.usePathWalk::
 	processes. See linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] for full details.
 
 pack.preferBitmapTips::
+	Specifies a ref hierarchy (e.g., "refs/heads/"); can be
+	given multiple times to specify more than one hierarchies.
 	When selecting which commits will receive bitmaps, prefer a
-	commit at the tip of any reference that is a suffix of any value
-	of this configuration over any other commits in the "selection
-	window".
+	commit at the tip of a reference that is contained in any of
+	the configured hierarchies.
 +
-Note that setting this configuration to `refs/foo` does not mean that
+Note that setting this configuration to `refs/foo/` does not mean that
 the commits at the tips of `refs/foo/bar` and `refs/foo/baz` will
 necessarily be selected. This is because commits are selected for
 bitmaps from within a series of windows of variable length.
diff --git a/pack-bitmap.c b/pack-bitmap.c
index 2f5cb34009..1c93871484 100644
--- a/pack-bitmap.c
+++ b/pack-bitmap.c
@@ -3328,15 +3328,26 @@ void for_each_preferred_bitmap_tip(struct repository *repo,
 {
 	struct string_list_item *item;
 	const struct string_list *preferred_tips;
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
 
 	preferred_tips = bitmap_preferred_tips(repo);
 	if (!preferred_tips)
 		return;
 
 	for_each_string_list_item(item, preferred_tips) {
+		const char *pattern = item->string;
+
+		if (!ends_with(pattern, "/")) {
+			strbuf_reset(&buf);
+			strbuf_addf(&buf, "%s/", pattern);
+			pattern = buf.buf;
+		}
+
 		refs_for_each_ref_in(get_main_ref_store(repo),
-				     item->string, cb, cb_data);
+				     pattern, cb, cb_data);
 	}
+
+	strbuf_release(&buf);
 }
 
 int bitmap_is_preferred_refname(struct repository *r, const char *refname)
diff --git a/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh b/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
index 6718fb98c0..310b708c5c 100755
--- a/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
+++ b/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
@@ -466,6 +466,47 @@ test_bitmap_cases () {
 		)
 	'
 
+	test_expect_success 'pack.preferBitmapTips interprets patterns as hierarchy' '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			# Create enough commits that not all will receive bitmap
+			# coverage even if they are all at the tip of some reference.
+			test_commit_bulk --message="%s" 103 &&
+			git log --format="create refs/tags/%s/tag %H" HEAD >refs &&
+			git update-ref --stdin <refs &&
+
+			# Create the bitmap.
+			git repack -adb &&
+			test-tool bitmap list-commits | sort >commits-with-bitmap &&
+
+			# Verify that we have at least one commit that did not
+			# receive a bitmap.
+			git rev-list HEAD >commits.raw &&
+			sort <commits.raw >commits &&
+			comm -13 commits-with-bitmap commits >commits-wo-bitmap &&
+			test_file_not_empty commits-wo-bitmap &&
+			commit_id=$(head commits-wo-bitmap) &&
+			ref_without_bitmap=$(git for-each-ref --points-at="$commit_id" --format="%(refname)") &&
+
+			# When passing the full refname we do not expect a
+			# bitmap to be generated, as it should be interpreted
+			# as if a slash was appended to the pattern.
+			git -c pack.preferBitmapTips="$ref_without_bitmap" repack -adb &&
+			test-tool bitmap list-commits >after &&
+			test_grep ! "$commit_id" after &&
+
+			# But if we pass the parent directory of the ref we
+			# should see a bitmap.
+			ref_namespace=$(dirname "$ref_without_bitmap") &&
+			git -c pack.preferBitmapTips="$ref_namespace" repack -adb &&
+			test-tool bitmap list-commits >after &&
+			test_grep "$commit_id" after
+		)
+	'
+
 	test_expect_success 'complains about multiple pack bitmaps' '
 		rm -fr repo &&
 		git init repo &&
diff --git a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
index faae98c7e7..449353416f 100755
--- a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
+++ b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
@@ -1345,4 +1345,47 @@ test_expect_success 'bitmapped packs are stored via the BTMP chunk' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'pack.preferBitmapTips interprets patterns as hierarchy' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		# Create enough commits that not all will receive bitmap
+		# coverage even if they are all at the tip of some reference.
+		test_commit_bulk --message="%s" 103 &&
+		git log --format="create refs/tags/%s %H" HEAD >refs &&
+		git update-ref --stdin <refs &&
+
+		# Create the bitmap via the MIDX.
+		git repack -adb --write-midx &&
+		test-tool bitmap list-commits | sort >commits-with-bitmap &&
+
+		# Verify that we have at least one commit that did not
+		# receive a bitmap.
+		git rev-list HEAD >commits.raw &&
+		sort <commits.raw >commits &&
+		comm -13 commits-with-bitmap commits >commits-wo-bitmap &&
+		test_file_not_empty commits-wo-bitmap &&
+		commit_id=$(head commits-wo-bitmap) &&
+		ref_without_bitmap=$(git for-each-ref --points-at="$commit_id" --format="%(refname)") &&
+
+		# When passing the full refname we do not expect a bitmap to be
+		# generated, as it should be interpreted as if a slash was
+		# appended to the pattern.
+		rm .git/objects/pack/multi-pack-index* &&
+		git -c pack.preferBitmapTips="$ref_without_bitmap" repack -adb --write-midx &&
+		test-tool bitmap list-commits >after &&
+		test_grep ! "$commit_id" after &&
+
+		# But if we pass the parent directory of the ref we should see
+		# a bitmap.
+		ref_namespace=$(dirname "$ref_without_bitmap") &&
+		rm .git/objects/pack/multi-pack-index* &&
+		git -c pack.preferBitmapTips="$ref_namespace" repack -adb --write-midx &&
+		test-tool bitmap list-commits >after &&
+		test_grep "$commit_id" after
+	)
+'
+
 test_done