diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
index 76bc2181d214..94f2faebc7f0 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-record.txt
@@ -193,7 +193,9 @@ OPTIONS
 	Child tasks do not inherit counters.
 -F::
 --freq=::
-	Profile at this frequency.
+	Profile at this frequency. Use 'max' to use the currently maximum
+	allowed frequency, i.e. the value in the kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate
+	sysctl.
 
 -m::
 --mmap-pages=::
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index 907267206973..e1821eea14ef 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
+#include <locale.h>
 #include <poll.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <sched.h>
@@ -1542,7 +1543,9 @@ static struct option __record_options[] = {
 	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "tail-synthesize", &record.opts.tail_synthesize,
 		    "synthesize non-sample events at the end of output"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "overwrite", &record.opts.overwrite, "use overwrite mode"),
-	OPT_UINTEGER('F', "freq", &record.opts.user_freq, "profile at this frequency"),
+	OPT_CALLBACK('F', "freq", &record.opts, "freq or 'max'",
+		     "profile at this frequency",
+		      record__parse_freq),
 	OPT_CALLBACK('m', "mmap-pages", &record.opts, "pages[,pages]",
 		     "number of mmap data pages and AUX area tracing mmap pages",
 		     record__parse_mmap_pages),
@@ -1651,6 +1654,8 @@ int cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv)
 	struct record *rec = &record;
 	char errbuf[BUFSIZ];
 
+	setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
+
 #ifndef HAVE_LIBBPF_SUPPORT
 # define set_nobuild(s, l, c) set_option_nobuild(record_options, s, l, "NO_LIBBPF=1", c)
 	set_nobuild('\0', "clang-path", true);
diff --git a/tools/perf/perf.h b/tools/perf/perf.h
index cfe46236a5e5..a5df8bf73a68 100644
--- a/tools/perf/perf.h
+++ b/tools/perf/perf.h
@@ -82,4 +82,6 @@ struct record_opts {
 struct option;
 extern const char * const *record_usage;
 extern struct option *record_options;
+
+int record__parse_freq(const struct option *opt, const char *str, int unset);
 #endif
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/record.c b/tools/perf/util/record.c
index 1e97937b03a9..acabf54ceccb 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/record.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "parse-events.h"
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <api/fs/fs.h>
+#include <subcmd/parse-options.h>
 #include "util.h"
 #include "cloexec.h"
 
@@ -287,3 +288,25 @@ bool perf_evlist__can_select_event(struct perf_evlist *evlist, const char *str)
 	perf_evlist__delete(temp_evlist);
 	return ret;
 }
+
+int record__parse_freq(const struct option *opt, const char *str, int unset __maybe_unused)
+{
+	unsigned int freq;
+	struct record_opts *opts = opt->value;
+
+	if (!str)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	if (strcasecmp(str, "max") == 0) {
+		if (get_max_rate(&freq)) {
+			pr_err("couldn't read /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_max_sample_rate\n");
+			return -1;
+		}
+		pr_info("info: Using a maximum frequency rate of %'d Hz\n", freq);
+	} else {
+		freq = atoi(str);
+	}
+
+	opts->user_freq = freq;
+	return 0;
+}