diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 79226b31000..3a7ebf4294e 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ Bugs fixed
   ``:unknown:doc:``)
 * #8711: LaTeX: backticks in code-blocks trigger latexpdf build warning (and font
   change) with late TeXLive 2019
+* #8253: LaTeX: Figures with no size defined get overscaled (compared to images
+  with size explicitly set in pixels) (fixed for ``'pdflatex'/'lualatex'`` only)
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/sphinx/templates/latex/latex.tex_t b/sphinx/templates/latex/latex.tex_t
index 88efab8f0a2..9bfb3c3ff71 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/latex/latex.tex_t
+++ b/sphinx/templates/latex/latex.tex_t
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@
 \ifdefined\pdfpxdimen
    \let\sphinxpxdimen\pdfpxdimen\else\newdimen\sphinxpxdimen
 \fi \sphinxpxdimen=<%= pxunit %>\relax
+\ifdefined\pdfimageresolution
+    \pdfimageresolution= \numexpr \dimexpr1in\relax/\sphinxpxdimen\relax
+\fi
 <% if use_xindy -%>
 %% turn off hyperref patch of \index as sphinx.xdy xindy module takes care of
 %% suitable \hyperpage mark-up, working around hyperref-xindy incompatibility