diff --git a/altair/vegalite/data.py b/altair/vegalite/data.py
index d54dfd93..3ffa3da0 100644
--- a/altair/vegalite/data.py
+++ b/altair/vegalite/data.py
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ from toolz.curried import curry, pipe
 from ..utils.core import sanitize_dataframe
 from ..utils.data import (
     MaxRowsError, limit_rows, sample, to_csv, to_json, to_values,
-    check_data_type, DataTransformerRegistry
+    check_data_type
 )
+from ..utils.data import DataTransformerRegistry as _DataTransformerRegistry
 
 
 @curry
@@ -12,6 +13,16 @@ def default_data_transformer(data, max_rows=5000):
     return pipe(data, limit_rows(max_rows=max_rows), to_values)
 
 
+class DataTransformerRegistry(_DataTransformerRegistry):
+    def disable_max_rows(self):
+        """Disable the MaxRowsError."""
+        options = self.options
+        if self.active == 'default':
+            options = options.copy()
+            options['max_rows'] = None
+        return self.enable(**options)
+
+
 __all__ = (
     'DataTransformerRegistry',
     'MaxRowsError',
diff --git a/altair/vegalite/v3/api.py b/altair/vegalite/v3/api.py
index 064a739e..cc37e9e6 100644
--- a/altair/vegalite/v3/api.py
+++ b/altair/vegalite/v3/api.py
@@ -445,9 +445,9 @@ class TopLevelMixin(mixins.ConfigMethodMixin):
             the format to write: one of ['json', 'html', 'png', 'svg'].
             If not specified, the format will be determined from the filename.
         override_data_transformer : boolean (optional)
-            If True (default), then the save action will be done with the
-            default data_transformer with max_rows set to None. If False,
-            then use the currently active data transformer.
+            If True (default), then the save action will be done with
+            the MaxRowsError disabled. If False, then do not change the data
+            transformer.
         scale_factor : float
             For svg or png formats, scale the image by this factor when saving.
             This can be used to control the size or resolution of the output.
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ class TopLevelMixin(mixins.ConfigMethodMixin):
         # that save() will succeed even for large datasets that would
         # normally trigger a MaxRowsError
         if override_data_transformer:
-            with data_transformers.enable('default', max_rows=None):
+            with data_transformers.disable_max_rows():
                 result = save(**kwds)
         else:
             result = save(**kwds)
diff --git a/doc/user_guide/faq.rst b/doc/user_guide/faq.rst
index a7d64a72..cd0a69f6 100644
--- a/doc/user_guide/faq.rst
+++ b/doc/user_guide/faq.rst
@@ -144,10 +144,21 @@ error is a way of preventing that.
 
 You can get around it in a few ways:
 
+Disabling MaxRowsError
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+If you are certain you would like to embed your dataset within the visualization
+specification, you can disable the ``MaxRows`` check with the following::
+
+    alt.data_transformers.disable_max_rows()
+
+If you choose this route, please be careful: if you are making multiple plots
+with the dataset in a particular notebook, the notebook will grow very large
+and performance may suffer.
+
 Passing Data by URL
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-The preferred solution to working with large datasets is to not embed the data
-in the notebook, but rather pass it to the chart by URL.
+A better solution when working with large datasets is to not embed the data
+in the notebook, but rather store it separately pass it to the chart by URL.
 This not only addresses the issue of large notebooks, but also leads to better
 interactivity performance with large datasets.
 
@@ -199,15 +210,3 @@ And then enable the data transformer::
     alt.data_transformers.enable('data_server')
 
 Note that this may not approach on some cloud-based Jupyter notebook services.
-
-Disabling MaxRows
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-If you are certain you would like to embed your dataset within the visualization
-specification, you can disable the ``MaxRows`` check by modifying the arguments
-to the default data transformer::
-
-    alt.data_transformers.enable(max_rows=None)
-
-If you choose this route, please be careful: if you are making multiple plots
-with the dataset in a particular notebook, the notebook will grow very large
-and performance may suffer.

chart.serve() ignores data transformers
```python
import altair as alt

alt.data_transformers.enable('data_server')

from vega_datasets import data
cars = data.cars()

chart = alt.Chart(cars).mark_point().encode(
    x='Horsepower',
    y='Miles_per_Gallon',
    color='Origin',
).interactive()

chart.serve()
```
Examining the HTML from the above chart, we see that the data is not transformed.

diff --git a/altair/vegalite/v2/tests/test_data.py b/altair/vegalite/v2/tests/test_data.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4d316697
--- /dev/null
+++ b/altair/vegalite/v2/tests/test_data.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import os
+
+import pandas as pd
+import pytest
+
+from .. import data as alt
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def sample_data():
+    return pd.DataFrame({'x': range(10), 'y': range(10)})
+
+
+def test_disable_max_rows(sample_data):
+    with alt.data_transformers.enable('default', max_rows=5):
+        # Ensure max rows error is raised.
+        with pytest.raises(alt.MaxRowsError):
+            alt.data_transformers.get()(sample_data)
+
+        # Ensure that max rows error is properly disabled.
+        with alt.data_transformers.disable_max_rows():
+            alt.data_transformers.get()(sample_data)
+
+    try:
+        with alt.data_transformers.enable('json'):
+            # Ensure that there is no TypeError for non-max_rows transformers.
+            with alt.data_transformers.disable_max_rows():
+                jsonfile = alt.data_transformers.get()(sample_data)
+    except:
+        jsonfile = {}
+    finally:
+        if jsonfile:
+            os.remove(jsonfile['url'])
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/altair/vegalite/v3/tests/test_data.py b/altair/vegalite/v3/tests/test_data.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4d316697
--- /dev/null
+++ b/altair/vegalite/v3/tests/test_data.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import os
+
+import pandas as pd
+import pytest
+
+from .. import data as alt
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def sample_data():
+    return pd.DataFrame({'x': range(10), 'y': range(10)})
+
+
+def test_disable_max_rows(sample_data):
+    with alt.data_transformers.enable('default', max_rows=5):
+        # Ensure max rows error is raised.
+        with pytest.raises(alt.MaxRowsError):
+            alt.data_transformers.get()(sample_data)
+
+        # Ensure that max rows error is properly disabled.
+        with alt.data_transformers.disable_max_rows():
+            alt.data_transformers.get()(sample_data)
+
+    try:
+        with alt.data_transformers.enable('json'):
+            # Ensure that there is no TypeError for non-max_rows transformers.
+            with alt.data_transformers.disable_max_rows():
+                jsonfile = alt.data_transformers.get()(sample_data)
+    except:
+        jsonfile = {}
+    finally:
+        if jsonfile:
+            os.remove(jsonfile['url'])
\ No newline at end of file

pip install -e .[dev]
parse_log_pytest
requirements.txt
pytest
3.6
requirements.txt
pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
alabaster==0.7.13
-e git+https://github.com/altair-viz/altair.git@35fad6bc10a14ab1072c3ce37ab2c1653d8364b7#egg=altair
attrs==22.2.0
Babel==2.11.0
backcall==0.2.0
certifi==2021.5.30
charset-normalizer==2.0.12
commonmark==0.9.1
decorator==5.1.1
docutils==0.17.1
entrypoints==0.4
flake8==5.0.4
idna==3.10
imagesize==1.4.1
importlib-metadata==4.2.0
iniconfig==1.1.1
ipython==7.16.3
ipython-genutils==0.2.0
jedi==0.17.2
Jinja2==3.0.3
jsonschema==3.2.0
m2r==0.3.1
MarkupSafe==2.0.1
mccabe==0.7.0
mistune==0.8.4
numpy==1.19.5
packaging==21.3
pandas==1.1.5
parso==0.7.1
pexpect==4.9.0
pickleshare==0.7.5
pluggy==1.0.0
prompt-toolkit==3.0.36
ptyprocess==0.7.0
py==1.11.0
pycodestyle==2.9.1
pyflakes==2.5.0
Pygments==2.14.0
pyparsing==3.1.4
pyrsistent==0.18.0
pytest==7.0.1
python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
pytz==2025.2
recommonmark==0.7.1
requests==2.27.1
six==1.17.0
snowballstemmer==2.2.0
Sphinx==4.3.2
sphinxcontrib-applehelp==1.0.2
sphinxcontrib-devhelp==1.0.2
sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp==2.0.0
sphinxcontrib-jsmath==1.0.1
sphinxcontrib-qthelp==1.0.3
sphinxcontrib-serializinghtml==1.1.5
tomli==1.2.3
toolz==0.12.0
traitlets==4.3.3
typing_extensions==4.1.1
urllib3==1.26.20
vega-datasets==0.9.0
wcwidth==0.2.13
zipp==3.6.0

name: altair
channels:
  - defaults
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r
  - conda-forge
dependencies:
  - _libgcc_mutex=0.1=main
  - _openmp_mutex=5.1=1_gnu
  - ca-certificates=2025.2.25=h06a4308_0
  - certifi=2021.5.30=py36h06a4308_0
  - ld_impl_linux-64=2.40=h12ee557_0
  - libffi=3.3=he6710b0_2
  - libgcc-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libgomp=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libstdcxx-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - ncurses=6.4=h6a678d5_0
  - openssl=1.1.1w=h7f8727e_0
  - pip=21.2.2=py36h06a4308_0
  - python=3.6.13=h12debd9_1
  - readline=8.2=h5eee18b_0
  - setuptools=58.0.4=py36h06a4308_0
  - sqlite=3.45.3=h5eee18b_0
  - tk=8.6.14=h39e8969_0
  - wheel=0.37.1=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - xz=5.6.4=h5eee18b_1
  - zlib=1.2.13=h5eee18b_1
  - pip:
      - alabaster==0.7.13
      - attrs==22.2.0
      - babel==2.11.0
      - backcall==0.2.0
      - charset-normalizer==2.0.12
      - commonmark==0.9.1
      - decorator==5.1.1
      - docutils==0.17.1
      - entrypoints==0.4
      - flake8==5.0.4
      - idna==3.10
      - imagesize==1.4.1
      - importlib-metadata==4.2.0
      - iniconfig==1.1.1
      - ipython==7.16.3
      - ipython-genutils==0.2.0
      - jedi==0.17.2
      - jinja2==3.0.3
      - jsonschema==3.2.0
      - m2r==0.3.1
      - markupsafe==2.0.1
      - mccabe==0.7.0
      - mistune==0.8.4
      - numpy==1.19.5
      - packaging==21.3
      - pandas==1.1.5
      - parso==0.7.1
      - pexpect==4.9.0
      - pickleshare==0.7.5
      - pluggy==1.0.0
      - prompt-toolkit==3.0.36
      - ptyprocess==0.7.0
      - py==1.11.0
      - pycodestyle==2.9.1
      - pyflakes==2.5.0
      - pygments==2.14.0
      - pyparsing==3.1.4
      - pyrsistent==0.18.0
      - pytest==7.0.1
      - python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
      - pytz==2025.2
      - recommonmark==0.7.1
      - requests==2.27.1
      - six==1.17.0
      - snowballstemmer==2.2.0
      - sphinx==4.3.2
      - sphinxcontrib-applehelp==1.0.2
      - sphinxcontrib-devhelp==1.0.2
      - sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp==2.0.0
      - sphinxcontrib-jsmath==1.0.1
      - sphinxcontrib-qthelp==1.0.3
      - sphinxcontrib-serializinghtml==1.1.5
      - tomli==1.2.3
      - toolz==0.12.0
      - traitlets==4.3.3
      - typing-extensions==4.1.1
      - urllib3==1.26.20
      - vega-datasets==0.9.0
      - wcwidth==0.2.13
      - zipp==3.6.0
prefix: /opt/conda/envs/altair

altair/vegalite/v2/tests/test_data.py::test_disable_max_rows altair/vegalite/v3/tests/test_data.py::test_disable_max_rows
altair/vegalite/v3/api.py doc/user_guide/faq.rst altair/vegalite/data.py
altair/vegalite/v3/api.py doc/user_guide/faq.rst altair/vegalite/data.py