diff --git a/Lib/test/test_format.py b/Lib/test/test_format.py
index 120c719b5eb79e..bc6eac99310a9c 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_format.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_format.py
@@ -287,6 +287,8 @@ def test_common_format(self):
                         "%i format: a real number is required, not str")
         test_exc_common('%i', b'1', TypeError,
                         "%i format: a real number is required, not bytes")
+        test_exc_common('%*r', (-maxsize - 1, 1), OverflowError,
+                        "width too big")
 
     def test_str_format(self):
         testformat("%r", "\u0378", "'\\u0378'")  # non printable
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-19-20-38-17.gh-issue-159739.78e530.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-19-20-38-17.gh-issue-159739.78e530.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..999efdac87f974
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-19-20-38-17.gh-issue-159739.78e530.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Raise :exc:`OverflowError` when the absolute value of a dynamic printf-style
+formatting width is too large.
diff --git a/Objects/bytesobject.c b/Objects/bytesobject.c
index 63730630e68497..307a015a119b9f 100644
--- a/Objects/bytesobject.c
+++ b/Objects/bytesobject.c
@@ -752,6 +752,10 @@ _PyBytes_FormatEx(const char *format, Py_ssize_t format_len,
                 if (width == -1 && PyErr_Occurred())
                     goto error;
                 if (width < 0) {
+                    if (width == PY_SSIZE_T_MIN) {
+                        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "width too big");
+                        goto error;
+                    }
                     flags |= F_LJUST;
                     width = -width;
                 }
diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index 8023bed17d3ea9..d62ea36ed70d68 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -15150,6 +15150,10 @@ unicode_format_arg_parse(struct unicode_formatter_t *ctx,
         if (arg->width == -1 && PyErr_Occurred())
             return -1;
         if (arg->width < 0) {
+            if (arg->width == PY_SSIZE_T_MIN) {
+                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "width too big");
+                return -1;
+            }
             arg->flags |= F_LJUST;
             arg->width = -arg->width;
         }