diff --git a/reftable/stack.c b/reftable/stack.c
index 1a7cdad12c..80266bcbab 100644
--- a/reftable/stack.c
+++ b/reftable/stack.c
@@ -1216,75 +1216,76 @@ static int segment_size(struct segment *s)
 	return s->end - s->start;
 }
 
-int fastlog2(uint64_t sz)
-{
-	int l = 0;
-	if (sz == 0)
-		return 0;
-	for (; sz; sz /= 2) {
-		l++;
-	}
-	return l - 1;
-}
-
-struct segment *sizes_to_segments(size_t *seglen, uint64_t *sizes, size_t n)
-{
-	struct segment *segs = reftable_calloc(n, sizeof(*segs));
-	struct segment cur = { 0 };
-	size_t next = 0, i;
-
-	if (n == 0) {
-		*seglen = 0;
-		return segs;
-	}
-	for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
-		int log = fastlog2(sizes[i]);
-		if (cur.log != log && cur.bytes > 0) {
-			struct segment fresh = {
-				.start = i,
-			};
-
-			segs[next++] = cur;
-			cur = fresh;
-		}
-
-		cur.log = log;
-		cur.end = i + 1;
-		cur.bytes += sizes[i];
-	}
-	segs[next++] = cur;
-	*seglen = next;
-	return segs;
-}
-
 struct segment suggest_compaction_segment(uint64_t *sizes, size_t n)
 {
-	struct segment min_seg = {
-		.log = 64,
-	};
-	struct segment *segs;
-	size_t seglen = 0, i;
+	struct segment seg = { 0 };
+	uint64_t bytes;
+	size_t i;
 
-	segs = sizes_to_segments(&seglen, sizes, n);
-	for (i = 0; i < seglen; i++) {
-		if (segment_size(&segs[i]) == 1)
-			continue;
+	/*
+	 * If there are no tables or only a single one then we don't have to
+	 * compact anything. The sequence is geometric by definition already.
+	 */
+	if (n <= 1)
+		return seg;
 
-		if (segs[i].log < min_seg.log)
-			min_seg = segs[i];
-	}
-
-	while (min_seg.start > 0) {
-		size_t prev = min_seg.start - 1;
-		if (fastlog2(min_seg.bytes) < fastlog2(sizes[prev]))
+	/*
+	 * Find the ending table of the compaction segment needed to restore the
+	 * geometric sequence. Note that the segment end is exclusive.
+	 *
+	 * To do so, we iterate backwards starting from the most recent table
+	 * until a valid segment end is found. If the preceding table is smaller
+	 * than the current table multiplied by the geometric factor (2), the
+	 * compaction segment end has been identified.
+	 *
+	 * Tables after the ending point are not added to the byte count because
+	 * they are already valid members of the geometric sequence. Due to the
+	 * properties of a geometric sequence, it is not possible for the sum of
+	 * these tables to exceed the value of the ending point table.
+	 *
+	 * Example table size sequence requiring no compaction:
+	 * 	64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1
+	 *
+	 * Example table size sequence where compaction segment end is set to
+	 * the last table. Since the segment end is exclusive, the last table is
+	 * excluded during subsequent compaction and the table with size 3 is
+	 * the final table included:
+	 * 	64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 3, 1
+	 */
+	for (i = n - 1; i > 0; i--) {
+		if (sizes[i - 1] < sizes[i] * 2) {
+			seg.end = i + 1;
+			bytes = sizes[i];
 			break;
-
-		min_seg.start = prev;
-		min_seg.bytes += sizes[prev];
+		}
 	}
 
-	reftable_free(segs);
-	return min_seg;
+	/*
+	 * Find the starting table of the compaction segment by iterating
+	 * through the remaining tables and keeping track of the accumulated
+	 * size of all tables seen from the segment end table. The previous
+	 * table is compared to the accumulated size because the tables from the
+	 * segment end are merged backwards recursively.
+	 *
+	 * Note that we keep iterating even after we have found the first
+	 * starting point. This is because there may be tables in the stack
+	 * preceding that first starting point which violate the geometric
+	 * sequence.
+	 *
+	 * Example compaction segment start set to table with size 32:
+	 * 	128, 32, 16, 8, 4, 3, 1
+	 */
+	for (; i > 0; i--) {
+		uint64_t curr = bytes;
+		bytes += sizes[i - 1];
+
+		if (sizes[i - 1] < curr * 2) {
+			seg.start = i - 1;
+			seg.bytes = bytes;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return seg;
 }
 
 static uint64_t *stack_table_sizes_for_compaction(struct reftable_stack *st)
diff --git a/reftable/stack.h b/reftable/stack.h
index c862053025..d43efa4760 100644
--- a/reftable/stack.h
+++ b/reftable/stack.h
@@ -32,12 +32,9 @@ int read_lines(const char *filename, char ***lines);
 
 struct segment {
 	size_t start, end;
-	int log;
 	uint64_t bytes;
 };
 
-int fastlog2(uint64_t sz);
-struct segment *sizes_to_segments(size_t *seglen, uint64_t *sizes, size_t n);
 struct segment suggest_compaction_segment(uint64_t *sizes, size_t n);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/reftable/stack_test.c b/reftable/stack_test.c
index fc14b1d1f5..c63c2d9f86 100644
--- a/reftable/stack_test.c
+++ b/reftable/stack_test.c
@@ -760,59 +760,13 @@ static void test_reftable_stack_hash_id(void)
 	clear_dir(dir);
 }
 
-static void test_log2(void)
-{
-	EXPECT(1 == fastlog2(3));
-	EXPECT(2 == fastlog2(4));
-	EXPECT(2 == fastlog2(5));
-}
-
-static void test_sizes_to_segments(void)
-{
-	uint64_t sizes[] = { 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 };
-	/* .................0  1  2  3  4  5 */
-
-	size_t seglen = 0;
-	struct segment *segs =
-		sizes_to_segments(&seglen, sizes, ARRAY_SIZE(sizes));
-	EXPECT(segs[2].log == 3);
-	EXPECT(segs[2].start == 5);
-	EXPECT(segs[2].end == 6);
-
-	EXPECT(segs[1].log == 2);
-	EXPECT(segs[1].start == 2);
-	EXPECT(segs[1].end == 5);
-	reftable_free(segs);
-}
-
-static void test_sizes_to_segments_empty(void)
-{
-	size_t seglen = 0;
-	struct segment *segs = sizes_to_segments(&seglen, NULL, 0);
-	EXPECT(seglen == 0);
-	reftable_free(segs);
-}
-
-static void test_sizes_to_segments_all_equal(void)
-{
-	uint64_t sizes[] = { 5, 5 };
-	size_t seglen = 0;
-	struct segment *segs =
-		sizes_to_segments(&seglen, sizes, ARRAY_SIZE(sizes));
-	EXPECT(seglen == 1);
-	EXPECT(segs[0].start == 0);
-	EXPECT(segs[0].end == 2);
-	reftable_free(segs);
-}
-
 static void test_suggest_compaction_segment(void)
 {
-	uint64_t sizes[] = { 128, 64, 17, 16, 9, 9, 9, 16, 16 };
-	/* .................0    1    2  3   4  5  6 */
+	uint64_t sizes[] = { 512, 64, 17, 16, 9, 9, 9, 16, 2, 16 };
 	struct segment min =
 		suggest_compaction_segment(sizes, ARRAY_SIZE(sizes));
-	EXPECT(min.start == 2);
-	EXPECT(min.end == 7);
+	EXPECT(min.start == 1);
+	EXPECT(min.end == 10);
 }
 
 static void test_suggest_compaction_segment_nothing(void)
@@ -923,6 +877,16 @@ static void test_empty_add(void)
 	reftable_stack_destroy(st2);
 }
 
+static int fastlog2(uint64_t sz)
+{
+	int l = 0;
+	if (sz == 0)
+		return 0;
+	for (; sz; sz /= 2)
+		l++;
+	return l - 1;
+}
+
 static void test_reftable_stack_auto_compaction(void)
 {
 	struct reftable_write_options cfg = {
@@ -1112,7 +1076,6 @@ static void test_reftable_stack_compaction_concurrent_clean(void)
 int stack_test_main(int argc, const char *argv[])
 {
 	RUN_TEST(test_empty_add);
-	RUN_TEST(test_log2);
 	RUN_TEST(test_names_equal);
 	RUN_TEST(test_parse_names);
 	RUN_TEST(test_read_file);
@@ -1133,9 +1096,6 @@ int stack_test_main(int argc, const char *argv[])
 	RUN_TEST(test_reftable_stack_update_index_check);
 	RUN_TEST(test_reftable_stack_uptodate);
 	RUN_TEST(test_reftable_stack_validate_refname);
-	RUN_TEST(test_sizes_to_segments);
-	RUN_TEST(test_sizes_to_segments_all_equal);
-	RUN_TEST(test_sizes_to_segments_empty);
 	RUN_TEST(test_suggest_compaction_segment);
 	RUN_TEST(test_suggest_compaction_segment_nothing);
 	return 0;
diff --git a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
index c9e10b3468..8eec093788 100755
--- a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
+++ b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ref transaction: writes cause auto-compaction' '
 	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
 
 	test_commit -C repo --no-tag A &&
-	test_line_count = 2 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
+	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
 
 	test_commit -C repo --no-tag B &&
 	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
@@ -320,6 +320,19 @@ test_expect_success 'ref transaction: env var disables compaction' '
 	test_line_count -lt $expected repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'ref transaction: alternating table sizes are compacted' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+
+	git init repo &&
+	test_commit -C repo A &&
+	for i in $(test_seq 5)
+	do
+		git -C repo branch -f foo &&
+		git -C repo branch -d foo || return 1
+	done &&
+	test_line_count = 2 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
+'
+
 check_fsync_events () {
 	local trace="$1" &&
 	shift &&
@@ -345,7 +358,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ref transaction: writes are synced' '
 		git -C repo -c core.fsync=reference \
 		-c core.fsyncMethod=fsync update-ref refs/heads/branch HEAD &&
 	check_fsync_events trace2.txt <<-EOF
-	"name":"hardware-flush","count":2
+	"name":"hardware-flush","count":4
 	EOF
 '
 
@@ -377,7 +390,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ref transaction: fails gracefully when auto compaction fail
 			done ||
 			exit 1
 		done &&
-		test_line_count = 13 .git/reftable/tables.list
+		test_line_count = 10 .git/reftable/tables.list
 	)
 '
 
@@ -387,8 +400,8 @@ test_expect_success 'pack-refs: compacts tables' '
 
 	test_commit -C repo A &&
 	ls -1 repo/.git/reftable >table-files &&
-	test_line_count = 4 table-files &&
-	test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
+	test_line_count = 3 table-files &&
+	test_line_count = 2 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
 
 	git -C repo pack-refs &&
 	ls -1 repo/.git/reftable >table-files &&
@@ -429,7 +442,7 @@ test_expect_success "$command: auto compaction" '
 		# The tables should have been auto-compacted, and thus auto
 		# compaction should not have to do anything.
 		ls -1 .git/reftable >tables-expect &&
-		test_line_count = 4 tables-expect &&
+		test_line_count = 3 tables-expect &&
 		git $command --auto &&
 		ls -1 .git/reftable >tables-actual &&
 		test_cmp tables-expect tables-actual &&
@@ -447,7 +460,7 @@ test_expect_success "$command: auto compaction" '
 		git branch B &&
 		git branch C &&
 		rm .git/reftable/*.lock &&
-		test_line_count = 5 .git/reftable/tables.list &&
+		test_line_count = 4 .git/reftable/tables.list &&
 
 		git $command --auto &&
 		test_line_count = 1 .git/reftable/tables.list
@@ -479,7 +492,7 @@ do
 			umask $umask &&
 			git init --shared=true repo &&
 			test_commit -C repo A &&
-			test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
+			test_line_count = 2 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
 		) &&
 		git -C repo pack-refs &&
 		test_expect_perms "-rw-rw-r--" repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
@@ -847,12 +860,16 @@ test_expect_success 'worktree: pack-refs in main repo packs main refs' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo worktree" &&
 	git init repo &&
 	test_commit -C repo A &&
-	git -C repo worktree add ../worktree &&
 
-	test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
-	test_line_count = 4 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
+	GIT_TEST_REFTABLE_AUTOCOMPACTION=false \
+	git -C repo worktree add ../worktree &&
+	GIT_TEST_REFTABLE_AUTOCOMPACTION=false \
+	git -C worktree update-ref refs/worktree/per-worktree HEAD &&
+
+	test_line_count = 4 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
+	test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
 	git -C repo pack-refs &&
-	test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
+	test_line_count = 4 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
 	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
 '
 
@@ -860,13 +877,17 @@ test_expect_success 'worktree: pack-refs in worktree packs worktree refs' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo worktree" &&
 	git init repo &&
 	test_commit -C repo A &&
-	git -C repo worktree add ../worktree &&
 
-	test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
-	test_line_count = 4 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
+	GIT_TEST_REFTABLE_AUTOCOMPACTION=false \
+	git -C repo worktree add ../worktree &&
+	GIT_TEST_REFTABLE_AUTOCOMPACTION=false \
+	git -C worktree update-ref refs/worktree/per-worktree HEAD &&
+
+	test_line_count = 4 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
+	test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
 	git -C worktree pack-refs &&
 	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
-	test_line_count = 4 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
+	test_line_count = 3 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'worktree: creating shared ref updates main stack' '
@@ -880,6 +901,7 @@ test_expect_success 'worktree: creating shared ref updates main stack' '
 	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
 	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list &&
 
+	GIT_TEST_REFTABLE_AUTOCOMPACTION=false \
 	git -C worktree update-ref refs/heads/shared HEAD &&
 	test_line_count = 1 repo/.git/worktrees/worktree/reftable/tables.list &&
 	test_line_count = 2 repo/.git/reftable/tables.list