diff --git a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/BlobStoreIncrementalityIT.java b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/BlobStoreIncrementalityIT.java
index 98641782f804f..874f6fe8fee49 100644
--- a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/BlobStoreIncrementalityIT.java
+++ b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/BlobStoreIncrementalityIT.java
@@ -13,27 +13,45 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.snapshots.status.SnapshotStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.forcemerge.ForceMergeResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.stats.IndexStats;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.stats.IndicesStatsResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkItemResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkRequestBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.WriteRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.client.Requests;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.UnassignedInfo;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.CollectionUtils;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.MergePolicyConfig;
+import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.InternalSettingsPlugin;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
+import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
+import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
+import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertNoFailures;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThan;
 
 @ESIntegTestCase.ClusterScope(scope = ESIntegTestCase.Scope.TEST, numDataNodes = 0)
 public class BlobStoreIncrementalityIT extends AbstractSnapshotIntegTestCase {
 
+    @Override
+    protected Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> nodePlugins() {
+        return CollectionUtils.appendToCopy(super.nodePlugins(), InternalSettingsPlugin.class);
+    }
+
     public void testIncrementalBehaviorOnPrimaryFailover() throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, IOException {
         internalCluster().startMasterOnlyNode();
         final String primaryNode = internalCluster().startDataOnlyNode();
@@ -166,6 +184,73 @@ public void testForceMergeCausesFullSnapshot() throws Exception {
         assertThat(secondSnapshotShardStatus.getIncrementalFileCount(), greaterThan(0));
     }
 
+    public void testRecordCorrectSegmentCountsWithBackgroundMerges() throws Exception {
+        final String repoName = "test-repo";
+        createRepository(repoName, "fs");
+
+        final String indexName = "test";
+        // disable merges
+        assertAcked(prepareCreate(indexName).setSettings(indexSettingsNoReplicas(1).put(MergePolicyConfig.INDEX_MERGE_ENABLED, "false")));
+
+        // create an empty snapshot so that later snapshots run as quickly as possible
+        createFullSnapshot(repoName, "empty");
+
+        // create a situation where we temporarily have a bunch of segments until the merges can catch up
+        long id = 0;
+        final int rounds = scaledRandomIntBetween(3, 5);
+        for (int i = 0; i < rounds; ++i) {
+            final int numDocs = scaledRandomIntBetween(100, 1000);
+            BulkRequestBuilder request = client().prepareBulk().setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
+            for (int j = 0; j < numDocs; ++j) {
+                request.add(
+                    Requests.indexRequest(indexName)
+                        .id(Long.toString(id++))
+                        .source(jsonBuilder().startObject().field("l", randomLong()).endObject())
+                );
+            }
+            assertNoFailures(request.get());
+        }
+
+        // snapshot with a bunch of unmerged segments
+        final SnapshotInfo before = createFullSnapshot(repoName, "snapshot-before");
+        final SnapshotInfo.IndexSnapshotDetails beforeIndexDetails = before.indexSnapshotDetails().get(indexName);
+        final long beforeSegmentCount = beforeIndexDetails.getMaxSegmentsPerShard();
+
+        // reactivate merges
+        assertAcked(admin().indices().prepareClose(indexName).get());
+        assertAcked(
+            admin().indices()
+                .prepareUpdateSettings(indexName)
+                .setSettings(
+                    Settings.builder()
+                        .put(MergePolicyConfig.INDEX_MERGE_POLICY_SEGMENTS_PER_TIER_SETTING.getKey(), "2")
+                        .put(MergePolicyConfig.INDEX_MERGE_ENABLED, "true")
+                )
+        );
+        assertAcked(admin().indices().prepareOpen(indexName).get());
+        assertEquals(0, admin().indices().prepareForceMerge(indexName).setFlush(true).get().getFailedShards());
+
+        // wait for merges to reduce segment count
+        assertBusy(() -> {
+            IndicesStatsResponse stats = client().admin().indices().prepareStats(indexName).setSegments(true).get();
+            assertThat(stats.getIndex(indexName).getPrimaries().getSegments().getCount(), lessThan(beforeSegmentCount));
+        }, 30L, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+        final SnapshotInfo after = createFullSnapshot(repoName, "snapshot-after");
+        final int incrementalFileCount = clusterAdmin().prepareSnapshotStatus()
+            .setRepository(repoName)
+            .setSnapshots(after.snapshotId().getName())
+            .get()
+            .getSnapshots()
+            .get(0)
+            .getStats()
+            .getIncrementalFileCount();
+        assertEquals(0, incrementalFileCount);
+        logger.info("--> no files have changed between snapshots, asserting that segment counts are constant as well");
+        final SnapshotInfo.IndexSnapshotDetails afterIndexDetails = after.indexSnapshotDetails().get(indexName);
+        assertEquals(beforeSegmentCount, afterIndexDetails.getMaxSegmentsPerShard());
+    }
+
     private void assertCountInIndexThenDelete(String index, long expectedCount) {
         logger.info("--> asserting that index [{}] contains [{}] documents", index, expectedCount);
         assertDocCount(index, expectedCount);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
index 7798e596efe56..c1121695c6cde 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
@@ -2758,7 +2758,7 @@ public void snapshotShard(SnapshotShardContext context) {
                 final ShardSnapshotResult shardSnapshotResult = new ShardSnapshotResult(
                     indexGeneration,
                     ByteSizeValue.ofBytes(blobStoreIndexShardSnapshot.totalSize()),
-                    snapshotIndexCommit.getSegmentCount()
+                    getSegmentInfoFileCount(blobStoreIndexShardSnapshot.indexFiles())
                 );
                 snapshotStatus.moveToDone(threadPool.absoluteTimeInMillis(), shardSnapshotResult);
                 context.onResponse(shardSnapshotResult);