diff --git a/stdlib/Printf/src/Printf.jl b/stdlib/Printf/src/Printf.jl
index 8dacee5a1dc1b..b7487db017d45 100644
--- a/stdlib/Printf/src/Printf.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Printf/src/Printf.jl
@@ -292,7 +292,8 @@ fmt(buf, pos, arg::AbstractFloat, spec::Spec{T}) where {T <: Ints} =
     bs = base(T)
     arg2 = toint(arg)
     n = i = ndigits(arg2, base=bs, pad=1)
-    x, neg = arg2 < 0 ? (-arg2, true) : (arg2, false)
+    neg = arg2 < 0
+    x = arg2 isa Base.BitSigned ? unsigned(abs(arg2)) : abs(arg2)
     arglen = n + (neg || (plus | space)) +
         (T == Val{'o'} && hash ? 1 : 0) +
         (T == Val{'x'} && hash ? 2 : 0) + (T == Val{'X'} && hash ? 2 : 0)
diff --git a/stdlib/Printf/test/runtests.jl b/stdlib/Printf/test/runtests.jl
index 3d7929c42e9e0..e80cbe9626823 100644
--- a/stdlib/Printf/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Printf/test/runtests.jl
@@ -762,6 +762,17 @@ end
     @test Printf.@sprintf("%20.0X",  UInt(3989525555)) == "            EDCB5433"
     @test Printf.@sprintf("%20.X",  UInt(0)) == "                   0"
 
+    # issue #41971
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%4d", typemin(Int8)) == "-128"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%4d", typemax(Int8)) == " 127"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%6d", typemin(Int16)) == "-32768"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%6d", typemax(Int16)) == " 32767"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%11d", typemin(Int32)) == "-2147483648"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%11d", typemax(Int32)) == " 2147483647"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%20d", typemin(Int64)) == "-9223372036854775808"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%20d", typemax(Int64)) == " 9223372036854775807"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%40d", typemin(Int128)) == "-170141183460469231731687303715884105728"
+    @test Printf.@sprintf("%40d", typemax(Int128)) == " 170141183460469231731687303715884105727"
 end
 
 @testset "%n" begin