Index: Objects/unicodeobject.c
===================================================================
--- Objects/unicodeobject.c	(revision 72162)
+++ Objects/unicodeobject.c	(working copy)
@@ -8808,9 +8808,6 @@
     if (prec < 0)
         prec = 6;
 
-    if (type == 'f' && fabs(x) >= 1e50)
-        type = 'g';
-
     p = PyOS_double_to_string(x, type, prec,
                               (flags & F_ALT) ? Py_DTSF_ALT : 0, NULL);
     if (p == NULL)
Index: Objects/stringlib/formatter.h
===================================================================
--- Objects/stringlib/formatter.h	(revision 72162)
+++ Objects/stringlib/formatter.h	(working copy)
@@ -934,8 +934,6 @@
 
     if (precision < 0)
         precision = 6;
-    if ((type == 'f' || type == 'F') && fabs(val) >= 1e50)
-        type = 'g';
 
     /* Cast "type", because if we're in unicode we need to pass a
        8-bit char. This is safe, because we've restricted what "type"
Index: Doc/library/stdtypes.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/stdtypes.rst	(revision 72162)
+++ Doc/library/stdtypes.rst	(working copy)
@@ -1321,9 +1321,9 @@
 
 .. XXX Examples?
 
-For safety reasons, floating point precisions are clipped to 50; ``%f``
-conversions for numbers whose absolute value is over 1e50 are replaced by ``%g``
-conversions. [#]_  All other errors raise exceptions.
+.. versionchanged:: 3.1
+   ``%f`` conversions for numbers whose absolute value is over 1e50 are no
+   longer replaced by ``%g`` conversions.
 
 .. index::
    module: string
@@ -2723,10 +2723,6 @@
 .. [#] To format only a tuple you should therefore provide a singleton tuple whose only
    element is the tuple to be formatted.
 
-.. [#] These numbers are fairly arbitrary.  They are intended to avoid printing endless
-   strings of meaningless digits without hampering correct use and without having
-   to know the exact precision of floating point values on a particular machine.
-
 .. [#] The advantage of leaving the newline on is that returning an empty string is
    then an unambiguous EOF indication.  It is also possible (in cases where it
    might matter, for example, if you want to make an exact copy of a file while
Index: Lib/test/formatfloat_testcases.txt
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/formatfloat_testcases.txt	(revision 72162)
+++ Lib/test/formatfloat_testcases.txt	(working copy)
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@
 %.0f 123.456 -> 123
 %.0f 1234.56 -> 1235
 %.0f 1e49 -> 9999999999999999464902769475481793196872414789632
--- %.0f 1e50 -> 100000000000000007629769841091887003294964970946560
 %.0f 9.9999999999999987e+49 -> 99999999999999986860582406952576489172979654066176
+%.0f 1e50 -> 100000000000000007629769841091887003294964970946560
 
 -- precision 1
 %.1f 0.0001 -> 0.0
Index: Lib/test/test_types.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_types.py	(revision 72162)
+++ Lib/test/test_types.py	(working copy)
@@ -538,11 +538,26 @@
         test(-1.0, ' f', '-1.000000')
         test( 1.0, '+f', '+1.000000')
         test(-1.0, '+f', '-1.000000')
-        test(1.1234e90, 'f', '1.1234e+90')
-        test(1.1234e90, 'F', '1.1234e+90')
-        test(1.1234e200, 'f', '1.1234e+200')
-        test(1.1234e200, 'F', '1.1234e+200')
 
+        # Python versions <= 3.0 switched from 'f' to 'g' formatting for
+        # values larger than 1e50.  No longer.
+        f = 1.1234e90
+        for fmt in 'f', 'F':
+            # don't do a direct equality check, since on some
+            # platforms only the first few digits of dtoa
+            # will be reliable
+            result = f.__format__(fmt)
+            self.assertEqual(len(result), 98)
+            self.assertEqual(result[-7], '.')
+            self.assert_(result[:12] in ('112340000000', '112339999999'))
+        f = 1.1234e200
+        for fmt in 'f', 'F':
+            result = f.__format__(fmt)
+            self.assertEqual(len(result), 208)
+            self.assertEqual(result[-7], '.')
+            self.assert_(result[:12] in ('112340000000', '112339999999'))
+
+
         test( 1.0, 'e', '1.000000e+00')
         test(-1.0, 'e', '-1.000000e+00')
         test( 1.0, 'E', '1.000000E+00')