diff --git a/base/tuple.jl b/base/tuple.jl
index eabbce23e4f18..3942202d90d97 100644
--- a/base/tuple.jl
+++ b/base/tuple.jl
@@ -63,13 +63,16 @@ end
 ## mapping ##
 
 ntuple(f::Function, n::Integer) =
-    n<=0 ? () :
-    n==1 ? (f(1),) :
-    n==2 ? (f(1),f(2),) :
-    n==3 ? (f(1),f(2),f(3),) :
-    n==4 ? (f(1),f(2),f(3),f(4),) :
-    n==5 ? (f(1),f(2),f(3),f(4),f(5),) :
-    tuple(ntuple(f,n-5)..., f(n-4), f(n-3), f(n-2), f(n-1), f(n))
+    n <= 0 ? () :
+    n == 1 ? (f(1),) :
+    n == 2 ? (f(1),f(2),) :
+    n == 3 ? (f(1),f(2),f(3),) :
+    n == 4 ? (f(1),f(2),f(3),f(4),) :
+    n == 5 ? (f(1),f(2),f(3),f(4),f(5),) :
+    n < 16 ? (ntuple(f,n-5)..., f(n-4), f(n-3), f(n-2), f(n-1), f(n)) :
+    _ntuple(f, n)
+
+_ntuple(f::Function, n::Integer) = (@_noinline_meta; ((f(i) for i = 1:n)...))
 
 # inferrable ntuple
 function ntuple{F,N}(f::F, ::Type{Val{N}})
diff --git a/test/tuple.jl b/test/tuple.jl
index 5d7240f15bbed..dbb7570273cba 100644
--- a/test/tuple.jl
+++ b/test/tuple.jl
@@ -162,3 +162,11 @@ end
 
 # issue #12854
 @test_throws TypeError ntuple(identity, Val{1:2})
+
+for n = 0:20
+    t = ntuple(identity, n)
+    @test length(t) == n
+    for i = 1:n
+        @test t[i] == i
+    end
+end