diff --git a/tsdb/compact.go b/tsdb/compact.go
index c5bd2ed2a67..b4c194de97f 100644
--- a/tsdb/compact.go
+++ b/tsdb/compact.go
@@ -75,14 +75,15 @@ type Compactor interface {
 
 // LeveledCompactor implements the Compactor interface.
 type LeveledCompactor struct {
-	metrics                  *CompactorMetrics
-	logger                   log.Logger
-	ranges                   []int64
-	chunkPool                chunkenc.Pool
-	ctx                      context.Context
-	maxBlockChunkSegmentSize int64
-	mergeFunc                storage.VerticalChunkSeriesMergeFunc
-	postingsEncoder          index.PostingsEncoder
+	metrics                     *CompactorMetrics
+	logger                      log.Logger
+	ranges                      []int64
+	chunkPool                   chunkenc.Pool
+	ctx                         context.Context
+	maxBlockChunkSegmentSize    int64
+	mergeFunc                   storage.VerticalChunkSeriesMergeFunc
+	postingsEncoder             index.PostingsEncoder
+	enableOverlappingCompaction bool
 }
 
 type CompactorMetrics struct {
@@ -153,18 +154,23 @@ type LeveledCompactorOptions struct {
 	MaxBlockChunkSegmentSize int64
 	// MergeFunc is used for merging series together in vertical compaction. By default storage.NewCompactingChunkSeriesMerger(storage.ChainedSeriesMerge) is used.
 	MergeFunc storage.VerticalChunkSeriesMergeFunc
+	// EnableOverlappingCompaction enables compaction of overlapping blocks. In Prometheus it is always enabled.
+	// It is useful for downstream projects like Mimir, Cortex, Thanos where they have a separate component that does compaction.
+	EnableOverlappingCompaction bool
 }
 
 func NewLeveledCompactorWithChunkSize(ctx context.Context, r prometheus.Registerer, l log.Logger, ranges []int64, pool chunkenc.Pool, maxBlockChunkSegmentSize int64, mergeFunc storage.VerticalChunkSeriesMergeFunc) (*LeveledCompactor, error) {
 	return NewLeveledCompactorWithOptions(ctx, r, l, ranges, pool, LeveledCompactorOptions{
-		MaxBlockChunkSegmentSize: maxBlockChunkSegmentSize,
-		MergeFunc:                mergeFunc,
+		MaxBlockChunkSegmentSize:    maxBlockChunkSegmentSize,
+		MergeFunc:                   mergeFunc,
+		EnableOverlappingCompaction: true,
 	})
 }
 
 func NewLeveledCompactor(ctx context.Context, r prometheus.Registerer, l log.Logger, ranges []int64, pool chunkenc.Pool, mergeFunc storage.VerticalChunkSeriesMergeFunc) (*LeveledCompactor, error) {
 	return NewLeveledCompactorWithOptions(ctx, r, l, ranges, pool, LeveledCompactorOptions{
-		MergeFunc: mergeFunc,
+		MergeFunc:                   mergeFunc,
+		EnableOverlappingCompaction: true,
 	})
 }
 
@@ -191,14 +197,15 @@ func NewLeveledCompactorWithOptions(ctx context.Context, r prometheus.Registerer
 		pe = index.EncodePostingsRaw
 	}
 	return &LeveledCompactor{
-		ranges:                   ranges,
-		chunkPool:                pool,
-		logger:                   l,
-		metrics:                  newCompactorMetrics(r),
-		ctx:                      ctx,
-		maxBlockChunkSegmentSize: maxBlockChunkSegmentSize,
-		mergeFunc:                mergeFunc,
-		postingsEncoder:          pe,
+		ranges:                      ranges,
+		chunkPool:                   pool,
+		logger:                      l,
+		metrics:                     newCompactorMetrics(r),
+		ctx:                         ctx,
+		maxBlockChunkSegmentSize:    maxBlockChunkSegmentSize,
+		mergeFunc:                   mergeFunc,
+		postingsEncoder:             pe,
+		enableOverlappingCompaction: opts.EnableOverlappingCompaction,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -317,6 +324,9 @@ func (c *LeveledCompactor) selectDirs(ds []dirMeta) []dirMeta {
 // selectOverlappingDirs returns all dirs with overlapping time ranges.
 // It expects sorted input by mint and returns the overlapping dirs in the same order as received.
 func (c *LeveledCompactor) selectOverlappingDirs(ds []dirMeta) []string {
+	if !c.enableOverlappingCompaction {
+		return nil
+	}
 	if len(ds) < 2 {
 		return nil
 	}