diff --git a/base/irrationals.jl b/base/irrationals.jl
index c51b66045723f..6d6aa784cdc72 100644
--- a/base/irrationals.jl
+++ b/base/irrationals.jl
@@ -51,19 +51,50 @@ AbstractFloat(x::AbstractIrrational) = Float64(x)::Float64
 Float16(x::AbstractIrrational) = Float16(Float32(x)::Float32)
 Complex{T}(x::AbstractIrrational) where {T<:Real} = Complex{T}(T(x))
 
-function _irrational_to_rational(::Type{T}, x::AbstractIrrational) where T<:Integer
-    o = precision(BigFloat)
-    p = 256
-    while true
-        setprecision(BigFloat, p)
-        bx = BigFloat(x)
-        r = rationalize(T, bx, tol=0)
-        if abs(BigFloat(r) - bx) > eps(bx)
-            setprecision(BigFloat, o)
+function _irrational_to_rational_at_current_precision(
+    ::Type{T}, x::AbstractIrrational,
+) where {T <: Integer}
+    bx = BigFloat(x)
+    r = rationalize(T, bx, tol = 0)
+    br_func = let r = r
+        () -> BigFloat(r)
+    end
+    br = setprecision(br_func, BigFloat, precision(BigFloat) + 32)
+    if eps(bx) < abs(br - bx)
+        r
+    else
+        nothing  # Error is too small, repeat with greater precision.
+    end
+end
+function _irrational_to_rational_at_precision(
+    ::Type{T}, x::AbstractIrrational, p::Int,
+) where {T <: Integer}
+    f = let x = x
+        () -> _irrational_to_rational_at_current_precision(T, x)
+    end
+    setprecision(f, BigFloat, p)
+end
+function _irrational_to_rational_at_current_rounding_mode(
+    ::Type{T}, x::AbstractIrrational, precisions,
+) where {T <: Integer}
+    if T <: BigInt
+        _throw_argument_error_irrational_to_rational_bigint()
+    end
+    for p ∈ precisions
+        r = _irrational_to_rational_at_precision(T, x, p)
+        if r isa Number
             return r
         end
-        p += 32
     end
+    throw(ArgumentError("failed to rationalize irrational"))
+end
+function _irrational_to_rational(
+    ::Type{T}, x::AbstractIrrational, precisions = 256:32:16777216,
+) where {T <: Integer}
+    f = let x = x, precisions = precisions
+        () -> _irrational_to_rational_at_current_rounding_mode(T, x, precisions)
+    end
+    setrounding(f, BigFloat, RoundNearest)
 end
 Rational{T}(x::AbstractIrrational) where {T<:Integer} = _irrational_to_rational(T, x)
 _throw_argument_error_irrational_to_rational_bigint() = throw(ArgumentError("Cannot convert an AbstractIrrational to a Rational{BigInt}: use rationalize(BigInt, x) instead"))