diff --git a/doc/api/tls.md b/doc/api/tls.md
index 34d3a9a96da672..a2a6279e0e374d 100644
--- a/doc/api/tls.md
+++ b/doc/api/tls.md
@@ -123,23 +123,17 @@ all sessions). Methods implementing this technique are called "ephemeral".
 Currently two methods are commonly used to achieve perfect forward secrecy (note
 the character "E" appended to the traditional abbreviations):
 
-* [DHE][]: An ephemeral version of the Diffie-Hellman key-agreement protocol.
 * [ECDHE][]: An ephemeral version of the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman
   key-agreement protocol.
+* [DHE][]: An ephemeral version of the Diffie-Hellman key-agreement protocol.
 
-To use perfect forward secrecy using `DHE` with the `node:tls` module, it is
-required to generate Diffie-Hellman parameters and specify them with the
-`dhparam` option to [`tls.createSecureContext()`][]. The following illustrates
-the use of the OpenSSL command-line interface to generate such parameters:
-
-```bash
-openssl dhparam -outform PEM -out dhparam.pem 2048
-```
+Perfect forward secrecy using ECDHE is enabled by default. The `ecdhCurve`
+option can be used when creating a TLS server to customize the list of supported
+ECDH curves to use. See [`tls.createServer()`][] for more info.
 
-If using perfect forward secrecy using `ECDHE`, Diffie-Hellman parameters are
-not required and a default ECDHE curve will be used. The `ecdhCurve` property
-can be used when creating a TLS Server to specify the list of names of supported
-curves to use, see [`tls.createServer()`][] for more info.
+DHE is disabled by default but can be enabled alongside ECDHE by setting the
+`dhparam` option to `'auto'`. Custom DHE parameters are also supported but
+discouraged in favor of automatically selected, well-known parameters.
 
 Perfect forward secrecy was optional up to TLSv1.2. As of TLSv1.3, (EC)DHE is
 always used (with the exception of PSK-only connections).
@@ -1796,6 +1790,10 @@ argument.
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.11.13
 changes:
+  - version: REPLACEME
+    pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/46978
+    description: The `dhparam` option can now be set to `'auto'` to
+                 enable DHE with appropriate well-known parameters.
   - version: v12.12.0
     pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/28973
     description: Added `privateKeyIdentifier` and `privateKeyEngine` options
@@ -1880,13 +1878,10 @@ changes:
     client certificate.
   * `crl` {string|string\[]|Buffer|Buffer\[]} PEM formatted CRLs (Certificate
     Revocation Lists).
-  * `dhparam` {string|Buffer} Diffie-Hellman parameters, required for non-ECDHE
-    [perfect forward secrecy][]. Use `openssl dhparam` to create the parameters.
-    The key length must be greater than or equal to 1024 bits or else an error
-    will be thrown. Although 1024 bits is permissible, use 2048 bits or larger
-    for stronger security. If omitted or invalid, the parameters are silently
-    discarded and DHE ciphers will not be available. [ECDHE][]-based [perfect
-    forward secrecy][] will still be available.
+  * `dhparam` {string|Buffer} `'auto'` or custom Diffie-Hellman parameters,
+    required for non-ECDHE [perfect forward secrecy][]. If omitted or invalid,
+    the parameters are silently discarded and DHE ciphers will not be available.
+    [ECDHE][]-based [perfect forward secrecy][] will still be available.
   * `ecdhCurve` {string} A string describing a named curve or a colon separated
     list of curve NIDs or names, for example `P-521:P-384:P-256`, to use for
     ECDH key agreement. Set to `auto` to select the
@@ -1973,6 +1968,13 @@ A key is _required_ for ciphers that use certificates. Either `key` or
 If the `ca` option is not given, then Node.js will default to using
 [Mozilla's publicly trusted list of CAs][].
 
+Custom DHE parameters are discouraged in favor of the new `dhparam: 'auto'`
+option. When set to `'auto'`, well-known DHE parameters of sufficient strength
+will be selected automatically. Otherwise, if necessary, `openssl dhparam` can
+be used to create custom parameters. The key length must be greater than or
+equal to 1024 bits or else an error will be thrown. Although 1024 bits is
+permissible, use 2048 bits or larger for stronger security.
+
 ## `tls.createSecurePair([context][, isServer][, requestCert][, rejectUnauthorized][, options])`
 
 <!-- YAML
diff --git a/lib/internal/tls/secure-context.js b/lib/internal/tls/secure-context.js
index d91df0e2a03846..9b3f8ccce0ce8b 100644
--- a/lib/internal/tls/secure-context.js
+++ b/lib/internal/tls/secure-context.js
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ function configSecureContext(context, options = kEmptyObject, name = 'options')
 
   if (dhparam !== undefined && dhparam !== null) {
     validateKeyOrCertOption(`${name}.dhparam`, dhparam);
-    const warning = context.setDHParam(dhparam);
+    const warning = context.setDHParam(dhparam === 'auto' || dhparam);
     if (warning)
       process.emitWarning(warning, 'SecurityWarning');
   }
diff --git a/src/crypto/crypto_context.cc b/src/crypto/crypto_context.cc
index 50036c6466131b..b9f323035ff543 100644
--- a/src/crypto/crypto_context.cc
+++ b/src/crypto/crypto_context.cc
@@ -854,6 +854,14 @@ void SecureContext::SetDHParam(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
 
   CHECK_GE(args.Length(), 1);  // DH argument is mandatory
 
+  // If the user specified "auto" for dhparams, the JavaScript layer will pass
+  // true to this function instead of the original string. Any other string
+  // value will be interpreted as custom DH parameters below.
+  if (args[0]->IsTrue()) {
+    CHECK(SSL_CTX_set_dh_auto(sc->ctx_.get(), true));
+    return;
+  }
+
   DHPointer dh;
   {
     BIOPointer bio(LoadBIO(env, args[0]));
@@ -864,6 +872,7 @@ void SecureContext::SetDHParam(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
   }
 
   // Invalid dhparam is silently discarded and DHE is no longer used.
+  // TODO(tniessen): don't silently discard invalid dhparam.
   if (!dh)
     return;
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-tls-client-getephemeralkeyinfo.js b/test/parallel/test-tls-client-getephemeralkeyinfo.js
index 8abb319b828868..82ed1e27f49e6c 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-tls-client-getephemeralkeyinfo.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-tls-client-getephemeralkeyinfo.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ if (!common.hasCrypto)
 const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
 
 const assert = require('assert');
+const { X509Certificate } = require('crypto');
 const tls = require('tls');
 
 const key = fixtures.readKey('agent2-key.pem');
@@ -29,7 +30,20 @@ function test(size, type, name, cipher) {
 
   if (name) options.ecdhCurve = name;
 
-  if (type === 'DH') options.dhparam = loadDHParam(size);
+  if (type === 'DH') {
+    if (size === 'auto') {
+      options.dhparam = 'auto';
+      // The DHE parameters selected by OpenSSL depend on the strength of the
+      // certificate's key. For this test, we can assume that the modulus length
+      // of the certificate's key is equal to the size of the DHE parameter, but
+      // that is really only true for a few modulus lengths.
+      ({
+        publicKey: { asymmetricKeyDetails: { modulusLength: size } }
+      } = new X509Certificate(cert));
+    } else {
+      options.dhparam = loadDHParam(size);
+    }
+  }
 
   const server = tls.createServer(options, common.mustCall((conn) => {
     assert.strictEqual(conn.getEphemeralKeyInfo(), null);
@@ -54,6 +68,7 @@ function test(size, type, name, cipher) {
 }
 
 test(undefined, undefined, undefined, 'AES128-SHA256');
+test('auto', 'DH', undefined, 'DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256');
 test(1024, 'DH', undefined, 'DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256');
 test(2048, 'DH', undefined, 'DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256');
 test(256, 'ECDH', 'prime256v1', 'ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256');
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-tls-dhe.js b/test/parallel/test-tls-dhe.js
index d0dbfd77258e5f..a5cdc2d35ecbb7 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-tls-dhe.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-tls-dhe.js
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ if (!common.opensslCli)
   common.skip('missing openssl-cli');
 
 const assert = require('assert');
+const { X509Certificate } = require('crypto');
 const { once } = require('events');
 const tls = require('tls');
 const { execFile } = require('child_process');
@@ -36,7 +37,11 @@ const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
 
 const key = fixtures.readKey('agent2-key.pem');
 const cert = fixtures.readKey('agent2-cert.pem');
-const ciphers = 'DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256';
+
+// Prefer DHE over ECDHE when possible.
+const dheCipher = 'DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256';
+const ecdheCipher = 'ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256';
+const ciphers = `${dheCipher}:${ecdheCipher}`;
 
 // Test will emit a warning because the DH parameter size is < 2048 bits
 common.expectWarning('SecurityWarning',
@@ -47,12 +52,12 @@ function loadDHParam(n) {
   return fixtures.readKey(keyname);
 }
 
-function test(keylen, expectedCipher) {
+function test(dhparam, keylen, expectedCipher) {
   const options = {
-    key: key,
-    cert: cert,
-    ciphers: ciphers,
-    dhparam: loadDHParam(keylen),
+    key,
+    cert,
+    ciphers,
+    dhparam,
     maxVersion: 'TLSv1.2',
   };
 
@@ -63,7 +68,7 @@ function test(keylen, expectedCipher) {
                   '-cipher', ciphers];
 
     execFile(common.opensslCli, args, common.mustSucceed((stdout) => {
-      assert(keylen === 'error' ||
+      assert(keylen === null ||
              stdout.includes(`Server Temp Key: DH, ${keylen} bits`));
       assert(stdout.includes(`Cipher    : ${expectedCipher}`));
       server.close();
@@ -73,12 +78,35 @@ function test(keylen, expectedCipher) {
   return once(server, 'close');
 }
 
+function testCustomParam(keylen, expectedCipher) {
+  const dhparam = loadDHParam(keylen);
+  if (keylen === 'error') keylen = null;
+  return test(dhparam, keylen, expectedCipher);
+}
+
 (async () => {
+  // By default, DHE is disabled while ECDHE is enabled.
+  for (const dhparam of [undefined, null]) {
+    await test(dhparam, null, ecdheCipher);
+  }
+
+  // The DHE parameters selected by OpenSSL depend on the strength of the
+  // certificate's key. For this test, we can assume that the modulus length
+  // of the certificate's key is equal to the size of the DHE parameter, but
+  // that is really only true for a few modulus lengths.
+  const {
+    publicKey: { asymmetricKeyDetails: { modulusLength } }
+  } = new X509Certificate(cert);
+  await test('auto', modulusLength, dheCipher);
+
   assert.throws(() => {
-    test(512, 'DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256');
+    testCustomParam(512);
   }, /DH parameter is less than 1024 bits/);
 
-  await test(1024, 'DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256');
-  await test(2048, 'DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256');
-  await test('error', 'ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256');
+  // Custom DHE parameters are supported (but discouraged).
+  await testCustomParam(1024, dheCipher);
+  await testCustomParam(2048, dheCipher);
+
+  // Invalid DHE parameters are discarded. ECDHE remains enabled.
+  await testCustomParam('error', ecdheCipher);
 })().then(common.mustCall());