diff --git a/internal/wasm/sdk/test/e2e/exceptions.yaml b/internal/wasm/sdk/test/e2e/exceptions.yaml
index d8eb5d5283..afd9333d64 100644
--- a/internal/wasm/sdk/test/e2e/exceptions.yaml
+++ b/internal/wasm/sdk/test/e2e/exceptions.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 # Exception Format is <test name>: <reason>
 "data/toplevel integer": "https://github.com/open-policy-agent/opa/issues/3711"
 "data/nested integer": "https://github.com/open-policy-agent/opa/issues/3711"
+"strings/format_int: bignum exact (>64-bit integer, all bases + negative)": "WASM cannot represent integers larger than 64 bits (see https://github.com/open-policy-agent/opa/issues/3711); this change fixes the Go topdown builtin."
diff --git a/v1/test/cases/testdata/v1/strings/test-strings-format-int-bignum.yaml b/v1/test/cases/testdata/v1/strings/test-strings-format-int-bignum.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..891de6610c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/v1/test/cases/testdata/v1/strings/test-strings-format-int-bignum.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+---
+cases:
+  - note: "strings/format_int: bignum exact (>64-bit integer, all bases + negative)"
+    query: data.generated.p = x
+    modules:
+      - |
+        package generated
+
+        p := result if {
+        	result := {
+        		"b16": format_int(18446744073709551617, 16),
+        		"b10": format_int(18446744073709551617, 10),
+        		"b8": format_int(18446744073709551617, 8),
+        		"b2": format_int(18446744073709551617, 2),
+        		"neg16": format_int(-18446744073709551617, 16),
+        		"neg10": format_int(-18446744073709551617, 10),
+        		"frac16": format_int(15.9, 16),
+        		"fracneg16": format_int(-15.9, 16),
+        	}
+        }
+    data: {}
+    want_result:
+      - x:
+          b16: "10000000000000001"
+          b10: "18446744073709551617"
+          b8: "2000000000000000000001"
+          b2: "10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001"
+          neg16: "-10000000000000001"
+          neg10: "-18446744073709551617"
+          frac16: "f"
+          fracneg16: "-f"
diff --git a/v1/topdown/strings.go b/v1/topdown/strings.go
index 90fa39ca8f..99885622f5 100644
--- a/v1/topdown/strings.go
+++ b/v1/topdown/strings.go
@@ -129,11 +129,14 @@ func builtinFormatInt(_ BuiltinContext, operands []*ast.Term, iter func(*ast.Ter
 	}
 
 	var format string
+	var radix int
 	switch base {
 	case ast.Number("2"):
 		format = "%b"
+		radix = 2
 	case ast.Number("8"):
 		format = "%o"
+		radix = 8
 	case ast.Number("10"):
 		// Fast path: for numbers whose decimal string is already interned (e.g.
 		// "0"–"100"), we can skip strconv.ParseInt entirely.
@@ -144,12 +147,23 @@ func builtinFormatInt(_ BuiltinContext, operands []*ast.Term, iter func(*ast.Ter
 			return iter(ast.InternedIntegerString(i))
 		}
 		format = "%d"
+		radix = 10
 	case ast.Number("16"):
 		format = "%x"
+		radix = 16
 	default:
 		return builtins.NewOperandEnumErr(2, "2", "8", "10", "16")
 	}
 
+	// For integer inputs, format the exact big.Int. Routing integers through a
+	// float (as the fractional path below does) loses precision for values that
+	// need more than a float64's 53-bit mantissa, e.g. 18446744073709551617.
+	if i, ok := new(big.Int).SetString(string(input), 10); ok {
+		return iter(ast.InternedTerm(i.Text(radix)))
+	}
+
+	// Fractional inputs (e.g. 15.9) are truncated toward zero, matching the
+	// historical behaviour: format_int(15.9, 16) == "f", format_int(-15.9, 16) == "-f".
 	f := builtins.NumberToFloat(input)
 	i, _ := f.Int(nil)