diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 3885d88a..5561d0b4 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # cli (development version)
 
+* `cli_progress_bar()` now accepts `total` = Inf or -Inf which mimics the behavior    of when `total` is NA.
+
 * `num_ansi_colors()` now does not warn in Emacs if the `INSIDE_EMACS`
   environment variable is not a proper version number (@rundel, #689).
 
diff --git a/R/progress-client.R b/R/progress-client.R
index b153b5f2..6e654139 100644
--- a/R/progress-client.R
+++ b/R/progress-client.R
@@ -325,6 +325,11 @@ cli_progress_bar <- function(name = NULL,
     stop("Need to specify format if `type == \"custom\"")
   }
 
+  ## If `total` is infinite, use behavior seen when `total` is NA
+  if (is.infinite(total)) {
+    total <- NA
+  }
+
   ## If changes, synchronize with C API in progress.c
   bar <- new.env(parent = emptyenv())
   bar$id <- id
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-progress-client.R b/tests/testthat/test-progress-client.R
index 0e860ba1..210d5b74 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-progress-client.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-progress-client.R
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ test_that("update errors if no progress bar", {
     cli_progress_output("boo")
   }
   expect_error(fun(), "Cannot find current progress bar")
-  
+
   envkey <- NULL
   fun <- function() {
     envkey <<- format(environment())
@@ -164,5 +164,19 @@ test_that("cli_progress_output", {
   expect_snapshot(capture_cli_messages(fun()))
 
   withr::local_options(cli.dynamic = TRUE, cli.ansi = FALSE)
-  expect_snapshot(capture_cli_messages(fun()))  
+  expect_snapshot(capture_cli_messages(fun()))
+})
+
+test_that("cli_progress_bar handles Inf like NA", {
+  withr::local_options(cli.dynamic = FALSE, cli.ansi = FALSE)
+  fun <- function(total) {
+    bar <- cli_progress_bar(
+      name = "name",
+      format = "{cli::pb_name}{cli::pb_current}",
+      total = total
+    )
+    cli_progress_update(force = TRUE)
+    cli_progress_done(id = bar)
+  }
+  expect_equal(capture_cli_messages(fun(total = NA)), capture_cli_messages(fun(total = Inf)))
 })