diff --git a/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt b/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt
index 24a811f0ef..1880e9bba1 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt
@@ -63,6 +63,12 @@ OPTIONS
 	or to ask for a "blob" with `<object>` being a tag object that
 	points at it.
 
+--[no-]mailmap::
+--[no-]use-mailmap::
+       Use mailmap file to map author, committer and tagger names
+       and email addresses to canonical real names and email addresses.
+       See linkgit:git-shortlog[1].
+
 --textconv::
 	Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter. In this case,
 	`<object>` has to be of the form `<tree-ish>:<path>`, or `:<path>` in
diff --git a/builtin/cat-file.c b/builtin/cat-file.c
index 50cf38999d..4b68216b51 100644
--- a/builtin/cat-file.c
+++ b/builtin/cat-file.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include "packfile.h"
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "promisor-remote.h"
+#include "mailmap.h"
 
 enum batch_mode {
 	BATCH_MODE_CONTENTS,
@@ -36,6 +37,22 @@ struct batch_options {
 
 static const char *force_path;
 
+static struct string_list mailmap = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
+static int use_mailmap;
+
+static char *replace_idents_using_mailmap(char *, size_t *);
+
+static char *replace_idents_using_mailmap(char *object_buf, size_t *size)
+{
+	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
+	const char *headers[] = { "author ", "committer ", "tagger ", NULL };
+
+	strbuf_attach(&sb, object_buf, *size, *size + 1);
+	apply_mailmap_to_header(&sb, headers, &mailmap);
+	*size = sb.len;
+	return strbuf_detach(&sb, NULL);
+}
+
 static int filter_object(const char *path, unsigned mode,
 			 const struct object_id *oid,
 			 char **buf, unsigned long *size)
@@ -152,6 +169,12 @@ static int cat_one_file(int opt, const char *exp_type, const char *obj_name,
 		if (!buf)
 			die("Cannot read object %s", obj_name);
 
+		if (use_mailmap) {
+			size_t s = size;
+			buf = replace_idents_using_mailmap(buf, &s);
+			size = cast_size_t_to_ulong(s);
+		}
+
 		/* otherwise just spit out the data */
 		break;
 
@@ -183,6 +206,12 @@ static int cat_one_file(int opt, const char *exp_type, const char *obj_name,
 		}
 		buf = read_object_with_reference(the_repository, &oid,
 						 exp_type_id, &size, NULL);
+
+		if (use_mailmap) {
+			size_t s = size;
+			buf = replace_idents_using_mailmap(buf, &s);
+			size = cast_size_t_to_ulong(s);
+		}
 		break;
 	}
 	default:
@@ -348,11 +377,18 @@ static void print_object_or_die(struct batch_options *opt, struct expand_data *d
 		void *contents;
 
 		contents = read_object_file(oid, &type, &size);
+
+		if (use_mailmap) {
+			size_t s = size;
+			contents = replace_idents_using_mailmap(contents, &s);
+			size = cast_size_t_to_ulong(s);
+		}
+
 		if (!contents)
 			die("object %s disappeared", oid_to_hex(oid));
 		if (type != data->type)
 			die("object %s changed type!?", oid_to_hex(oid));
-		if (data->info.sizep && size != data->size)
+		if (data->info.sizep && size != data->size && !use_mailmap)
 			die("object %s changed size!?", oid_to_hex(oid));
 
 		batch_write(opt, contents, size);
@@ -843,6 +879,8 @@ int cmd_cat_file(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_CMDMODE('s', NULL, &opt, N_("show object size"), 's'),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "allow-unknown-type", &unknown_type,
 			  N_("allow -s and -t to work with broken/corrupt objects")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "use-mailmap", &use_mailmap, N_("use mail map file")),
+		OPT_ALIAS(0, "mailmap", "use-mailmap"),
 		/* Batch mode */
 		OPT_GROUP(N_("Batch objects requested on stdin (or --batch-all-objects)")),
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "batch", &batch, N_("format"),
@@ -885,6 +923,9 @@ int cmd_cat_file(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	opt_cw = (opt == 'c' || opt == 'w');
 	opt_epts = (opt == 'e' || opt == 'p' || opt == 't' || opt == 's');
 
+	if (use_mailmap)
+		read_mailmap(&mailmap);
+
 	/* --batch-all-objects? */
 	if (opt == 'b')
 		batch.all_objects = 1;
diff --git a/t/t4203-mailmap.sh b/t/t4203-mailmap.sh
index 0b2d21ec55..c60a90615c 100755
--- a/t/t4203-mailmap.sh
+++ b/t/t4203-mailmap.sh
@@ -963,4 +963,58 @@ test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'symlinks not respected in-tree' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success '--no-use-mailmap disables mailmap in cat-file' '
+	test_when_finished "rm .mailmap" &&
+	cat >.mailmap <<-EOF &&
+	A U Thor <author@example.com> Orig <orig@example.com>
+	EOF
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	author Orig <orig@example.com>
+	EOF
+	git cat-file --no-use-mailmap commit HEAD >log &&
+	sed -n "/^author /s/\([^>]*>\).*/\1/p" log >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--use-mailmap enables mailmap in cat-file' '
+	test_when_finished "rm .mailmap" &&
+	cat >.mailmap <<-EOF &&
+	A U Thor <author@example.com> Orig <orig@example.com>
+	EOF
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	author A U Thor <author@example.com>
+	EOF
+	git cat-file --use-mailmap commit HEAD >log &&
+	sed -n "/^author /s/\([^>]*>\).*/\1/p" log >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--no-mailmap disables mailmap in cat-file for annotated tag objects' '
+	test_when_finished "rm .mailmap" &&
+	cat >.mailmap <<-EOF &&
+	Orig <orig@example.com> C O Mitter <committer@example.com>
+	EOF
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	tagger C O Mitter <committer@example.com>
+	EOF
+	git tag -a -m "annotated tag" v1 &&
+	git cat-file --no-mailmap -p v1 >log &&
+	sed -n "/^tagger /s/\([^>]*>\).*/\1/p" log >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--mailmap enables mailmap in cat-file for annotated tag objects' '
+	test_when_finished "rm .mailmap" &&
+	cat >.mailmap <<-EOF &&
+	Orig <orig@example.com> C O Mitter <committer@example.com>
+	EOF
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	tagger Orig <orig@example.com>
+	EOF
+	git tag -a -m "annotated tag" v2 &&
+	git cat-file --mailmap -p v2 >log &&
+	sed -n "/^tagger /s/\([^>]*>\).*/\1/p" log >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_done
