diff --git a/doc/misc/efaq.texi b/doc/misc/efaq.texi
index 3e67438ab9d3..fef9b1051b00 100644
--- a/doc/misc/efaq.texi
+++ b/doc/misc/efaq.texi
@@ -1496,32 +1496,41 @@ direct color mode is used.  The capability strings are expected to
 take one 24-bit pixel value as argument and transform the pixel to a
 string that can be used to send 24-bit colors to the terminal.
 
-There aren't yet any standard terminal type definitions that would
-support the capabilities, but Emacs can be invoked with a custom
-definition as shown below.
+Standard terminal definitions don't support these capabilities and
+therefore custom definition is needed.
 
 @example
-$ cat terminfo-24bit.src
+$ cat terminfo-custom.src
 
-# Use colon separators.
-xterm-24bit|xterm with 24-bit direct color mode,
+xterm-emacs|xterm with 24-bit direct color mode for Emacs,
   use=xterm-256color,
-  setb24=\E[48:2:%p1%@{65536@}%/%d:%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d:%p1%@{255@}%&%dm,
-  setf24=\E[38:2:%p1%@{65536@}%/%d:%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d:%p1%@{255@}%&%dm,
-# Use semicolon separators.
-xterm-24bits|xterm with 24-bit direct color mode,
-  use=xterm-256color,
-  setb24=\E[48;2;%p1%@{65536@}%/%d;%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d;%p1%@{255@}%&%dm,
-  setf24=\E[38;2;%p1%@{65536@}%/%d;%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d;%p1%@{255@}%&%dm,
+  setb24=\E[48\:2\:\:%p1%@{65536@}%/%d\:%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d\:%p1%@{255@}%&%dm,
+  setf24=\E[38\:2\:\:%p1%@{65536@}%/%d\:%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d\:%p1%@{255@}%&%dm,
+
+$ tic -x -o ~/.terminfo terminfo-custom.src
+
+$ TERM=xterm-emacs emacs -nw
+@end example
+
+Emacs 27.1 and later support Terminfo capability @samp{RGB} for
+detecting 24-bit direct color mode.  Multiple standard terminal
+definitions support this capability.
+
+@example
+$ TERM=xterm-direct infocmp | grep seta[bf]
 
-$ tic -x -o ~/.terminfo terminfo-24bit.src
+  setab=\E[%?%p1%@{8@}%<%t4%p1%d%e48\:2\:\:%p1%@{65536@}%/%d\:%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d\:%p1%@{255@}%&%d%;m,
+  setaf=\E[%?%p1%@{8@}%<%t3%p1%d%e38\:2\:\:%p1%@{65536@}%/%d\:%p1%@{256@}%/%@{255@}%&%d\:%p1%@{255@}%&%d%;m,
 
-$ TERM=xterm-24bit emacs -nw
+$ TERM=xterm-direct emacs -nw
 @end example
 
-Currently there's no standard way to determine whether a terminal
-supports direct color mode.  If such standard arises later on, support
-for @samp{setb24} and @samp{setf24} may be removed.
+Terminals with @samp{RGB} capability treat pixels #000001 - #000007 as
+indexed colors to maintain backward compatibility with applications
+that are unaware of direct color mode.  Therefore the seven darkest
+blue shades may not be available.  If this is a problem, you can
+always use custom terminal definition with @samp{setb24} and
+@samp{setf24}.
 
 @node Debugging a customization file
 @section How do I debug a @file{.emacs} file?
diff --git a/src/term.c b/src/term.c
index b3707da70a2d..64a2b7e55193 100644
--- a/src/term.c
+++ b/src/term.c
@@ -4144,10 +4144,10 @@ use the Bourne shell command 'TERM=...; export TERM' (C-shell:\n\
       tty->TN_max_colors = tgetnum ("Co");
 
 #ifdef TERMINFO
-      /* Non-standard support for 24-bit colors. */
       {
 	const char *fg = tigetstr ("setf24");
 	const char *bg = tigetstr ("setb24");
+	/* Non-standard support for 24-bit colors. */
 	if (fg && bg
 	    && fg != (char *) (intptr_t) -1
 	    && bg != (char *) (intptr_t) -1)
@@ -4156,6 +4156,14 @@ use the Bourne shell command 'TERM=...; export TERM' (C-shell:\n\
 	    tty->TS_set_background = bg;
 	    tty->TN_max_colors = 16777216;
 	  }
+	/* Standard support for 24-bit colors.  */
+	else if (tigetflag ("RGB") > 0)
+	  {
+	    /* If the used Terminfo library supports only 16-bit
+	       signed values, tgetnum("Co") and tigetnum("colors")
+	       could return 32767.  */
+	    tty->TN_max_colors = 16777216;
+	  }
       }
 #endif
 
diff --git a/src/tparam.h b/src/tparam.h
index f8fb9e086902..3a3cb52c178b 100644
--- a/src/tparam.h
+++ b/src/tparam.h
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ extern char *BC;
 extern char *UP;
 
 #ifdef TERMINFO
-char *tigetstr(const char *);
+int tigetflag (const char *);
+char *tigetstr (const char *);
 #endif
 
 #endif /* EMACS_TPARAM_H */