diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ee8ab1ae295d5..5d5783a591e05 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ conf.set10('HAVE_SYSV_COMPAT', sysvinit_path != '' and sysvrcnd_path != '',
 
 conf.set10('BUMP_PROC_SYS_FS_FILE_MAX', get_option('bump-proc-sys-fs-file-max'))
 conf.set10('BUMP_PROC_SYS_FS_NR_OPEN',  get_option('bump-proc-sys-fs-nr-open'))
+conf.set('HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE',          256*1024)
 
 # join_paths ignore the preceding arguments if an absolute component is
 # encountered, so this should canonicalize various paths when they are
@@ -272,6 +273,7 @@ substs.set('SYSTEM_SYSVRCND_PATH',                            sysvrcnd_path)
 substs.set('RC_LOCAL_SCRIPT_PATH_START',                      get_option('rc-local'))
 substs.set('RC_LOCAL_SCRIPT_PATH_STOP',                       get_option('halt-local'))
 substs.set('MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT',                       memory_accounting_default ? 'yes' : 'no')
+substs.set('HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE',                              conf.get('HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE'))
 
 #####################################################################
 
diff --git a/src/basic/def.h b/src/basic/def.h
index 65ad6599992e5..005cd8d090e6d 100644
--- a/src/basic/def.h
+++ b/src/basic/def.h
@@ -76,5 +76,4 @@
 
 #define LONG_LINE_MAX (1U*1024U*1024U)
 
-#define HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE (256*1024)
 #define HIGH_RLIMIT_MEMLOCK (1024ULL*1024ULL*64ULL)
diff --git a/src/core/system.conf.in b/src/core/system.conf.in
index 639b5818ffb5e..ef1bbbd948f65 100644
--- a/src/core/system.conf.in
+++ b/src/core/system.conf.in
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 #DefaultLimitSTACK=
 #DefaultLimitCORE=
 #DefaultLimitRSS=
-#DefaultLimitNOFILE=
+#DefaultLimitNOFILE=1024:@HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE@
 #DefaultLimitAS=
 #DefaultLimitNPROC=
 #DefaultLimitMEMLOCK=
diff --git a/units/systemd-journal-gatewayd.service.in b/units/systemd-journal-gatewayd.service.in
index 7530d4c2dab18..a51d59d10112a 100644
--- a/units/systemd-journal-gatewayd.service.in
+++ b/units/systemd-journal-gatewayd.service.in
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ LockPersonality=yes
 
 # If there are many split up journal files we need a lot of fds to access them
 # all in parallel.
-LimitNOFILE=262144
+LimitNOFILE=@HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE@
 
 [Install]
 Also=systemd-journal-gatewayd.socket
diff --git a/units/systemd-journal-remote.service.in b/units/systemd-journal-remote.service.in
index c1de676b5ca0e..fa8682cd28573 100644
--- a/units/systemd-journal-remote.service.in
+++ b/units/systemd-journal-remote.service.in
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ LogsDirectory=journal/remote
 
 # If there are many split up journal files we need a lot of fds to access them
 # all in parallel.
-LimitNOFILE=262144
+LimitNOFILE=@HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE@
 
 [Install]
 Also=systemd-journal-remote.socket
diff --git a/units/systemd-journal-upload.service.in b/units/systemd-journal-upload.service.in
index b6920094fb00d..1ded99087798e 100644
--- a/units/systemd-journal-upload.service.in
+++ b/units/systemd-journal-upload.service.in
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ StateDirectory=systemd/journal-upload
 
 # If there are many split up journal files we need a lot of fds to access them
 # all in parallel.
-LimitNOFILE=262144
+LimitNOFILE=@HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE@
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/units/systemd-journald.service.in b/units/systemd-journald.service.in
index 2c09a8b3527d4..41cac8cf6569b 100644
--- a/units/systemd-journald.service.in
+++ b/units/systemd-journald.service.in
@@ -37,4 +37,4 @@ IPAddressDeny=any
 
 # If there are many split up journal files we need a lot of fds to access them
 # all in parallel.
-LimitNOFILE=262144
+LimitNOFILE=@HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE@
diff --git a/units/systemd-logind.service.in b/units/systemd-logind.service.in
index 8b264ff29dfb5..961263f607149 100644
--- a/units/systemd-logind.service.in
+++ b/units/systemd-logind.service.in
@@ -39,4 +39,4 @@ FileDescriptorStoreMax=512
 
 # Increase the default a bit in order to allow many simultaneous logins since
 # we keep one fd open per session.
-LimitNOFILE=262144
+LimitNOFILE=@HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE@