diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/null_means_none.yml b/changelogs/fragments/null_means_none.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..af3982e08af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/null_means_none.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - null_representation config entry changed to 'raw' as it must allow 'none/null' and empty string.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
index a2c43745241..a824ec2e734 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
+++ b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
@@ -940,7 +940,7 @@ DEFAULT_NULL_REPRESENTATION:
   env: [{name: ANSIBLE_NULL_REPRESENTATION}]
   ini:
   - {key: null_representation, section: defaults}
-  type: none
+  type: raw
 DEFAULT_POLL_INTERVAL:
   name: Async poll interval
   default: 15
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/template/badnull1.cfg b/test/integration/targets/template/badnull1.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e1d0688ccb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/template/badnull1.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[defaults]
+null_representation = null
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/template/badnull2.cfg b/test/integration/targets/template/badnull2.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..058ca48cefd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/template/badnull2.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[defaults]
+null_representation = ''
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/template/badnull3.cfg b/test/integration/targets/template/badnull3.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3c743fba53b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/template/badnull3.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[defaults]
+null_representation = none
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/template/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/template/runme.sh
index 7a07c4fb021..30163af7db9 100755
--- a/test/integration/targets/template/runme.sh
+++ b/test/integration/targets/template/runme.sh
@@ -44,3 +44,11 @@ ansible-playbook in_template_overrides.yml -v "$@"
 ansible-playbook lazy_eval.yml -i ../../inventory -v "$@"
 
 ansible-playbook undefined_in_import.yml -i ../../inventory -v "$@"
+
+# ensure diff null configs work #76493
+for badcfg in "badnull1" "badnull2" "badnull3"
+do
+	[ -f "./${badcfg}.cfg" ]
+	ANSIBLE_CONFIG="./${badcfg}.cfg" ansible-config dump --only-changed
+done
+