diff --git a/doc/usage/configuration.rst b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
index ff428a6554f..941b6038d9d 100644
--- a/doc/usage/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
@@ -1065,6 +1065,20 @@ that use Sphinx's HTMLWriter class.
 
    .. versionadded:: 1.8
 
+.. confval:: html_codeblock_linenos_style
+
+   The style of line numbers for code-blocks.
+
+   * ``'table'`` -- display line numbers using ``<table>`` tag
+   * ``'inline'`` -- display line numbers using ``<span>`` tag (default)
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.2
+   .. versionchanged:: 4.0
+
+      It defaults to ``'inline'``.
+
+   .. deprecated:: 4.0
+
 .. confval:: html_context
 
    A dictionary of values to pass into the template engine's context for all
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
index 71952199bbb..d5264e43e97 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 from sphinx import version_info as sphinx_version
 from sphinx.application import Sphinx
 from sphinx.builders import Builder
-from sphinx.config import Config
+from sphinx.config import ENUM, Config
 from sphinx.deprecation import RemovedInSphinx70Warning, deprecated_alias
 from sphinx.domains import Domain, Index, IndexEntry
 from sphinx.environment import BuildEnvironment
@@ -1371,6 +1371,8 @@ def setup(app: Sphinx) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     app.add_config_value('html_search_scorer', '', None)
     app.add_config_value('html_scaled_image_link', True, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_baseurl', '', 'html')
+    app.add_config_value('html_codeblock_linenos_style', 'inline', 'html',  # RemovedInSphinx70Warning  # NOQA
+                         ENUM('table', 'inline'))
     app.add_config_value('html_math_renderer', None, 'env')
     app.add_config_value('html4_writer', False, 'html')
 
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html.py b/sphinx/writers/html.py
index cb0794c04d4..680a47ac8f1 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html.py
@@ -446,11 +446,14 @@ def visit_literal_block(self, node: Element) -> None:
             return super().visit_literal_block(node)
 
         lang = node.get('language', 'default')
-        linenos = node.get('linenos', False) and "inline"
+        linenos = node.get('linenos', False)
         highlight_args = node.get('highlight_args', {})
         highlight_args['force'] = node.get('force', False)
         opts = self.config.highlight_options.get(lang, {})
 
+        if linenos and self.config.html_codeblock_linenos_style:
+            linenos = self.config.html_codeblock_linenos_style
+
         highlighted = self.highlighter.highlight_block(
             node.rawsource, lang, opts=opts, linenos=linenos,
             location=node, **highlight_args
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html5.py b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
index a169c606996..a68951a7f49 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html5.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
@@ -404,11 +404,14 @@ def visit_literal_block(self, node: Element) -> None:
             return super().visit_literal_block(node)
 
         lang = node.get('language', 'default')
-        linenos = node.get('linenos', False) and "inline"
+        linenos = node.get('linenos', False)
         highlight_args = node.get('highlight_args', {})
         highlight_args['force'] = node.get('force', False)
         opts = self.config.highlight_options.get(lang, {})
 
+        if linenos and self.config.html_codeblock_linenos_style:
+            linenos = self.config.html_codeblock_linenos_style
+
         highlighted = self.highlighter.highlight_block(
             node.rawsource, lang, opts=opts, linenos=linenos,
             location=node, **highlight_args
diff --git a/tests/test_build_html.py b/tests/test_build_html.py
index 1a717f15210..fa0bbac7c3d 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_html.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_html.py
@@ -1598,8 +1598,21 @@ def test_html_scaled_image_link(app):
                      context)
 
 
-@pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='reST-code-block')
-def test_html_codeblock_linenos_style(app):
+@pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='reST-code-block',
+                    confoverrides={'html_codeblock_linenos_style': 'table'})
+def test_html_codeblock_linenos_style_table(app):
+    app.build()
+    content = (app.outdir / 'index.html').read_text(encoding='utf8')
+
+    assert ('<div class="linenodiv"><pre><span class="normal">1</span>\n'
+            '<span class="normal">2</span>\n'
+            '<span class="normal">3</span>\n'
+            '<span class="normal">4</span></pre></div>') in content
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='reST-code-block',
+                    confoverrides={'html_codeblock_linenos_style': 'inline'})
+def test_html_codeblock_linenos_style_inline(app):
     app.build()
     content = (app.outdir / 'index.html').read_text(encoding='utf8')