diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/compress_io.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/compress_io.c
index a5f550399fd..3ba4c3969bd 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/compress_io.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/compress_io.c
@@ -560,11 +560,21 @@ cfopen(const char *path, const char *mode, int compression)
 	if (compression != 0)
 	{
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBZ
-		char		mode_compression[32];
+		if (compression != Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION)
+		{
+			/* user has specified a compression level, so tell zlib to use it */
+			char		mode_compression[32];
+
+			snprintf(mode_compression, sizeof(mode_compression), "%s%d",
+					 mode, compression);
+			fp->compressedfp = gzopen(path, mode_compression);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			/* don't specify a level, just use the zlib default */
+			fp->compressedfp = gzopen(path, mode);
+		}
 
-		snprintf(mode_compression, sizeof(mode_compression), "%s%d",
-				 mode, compression);
-		fp->compressedfp = gzopen(path, mode_compression);
 		fp->uncompressedfp = NULL;
 		if (fp->compressedfp == NULL)
 		{
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_tar.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_tar.c
index 2358b9d160c..0e3186caac9 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_tar.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_backup_tar.c
@@ -209,13 +209,6 @@ InitArchiveFmt_Tar(ArchiveHandle *AH)
 
 		ctx->hasSeek = checkSeek(ctx->tarFH);
 
-		if (AH->compression < 0 || AH->compression > 9)
-			AH->compression = Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION;
-
-		/* Don't compress into tar files unless asked to do so */
-		if (AH->compression == Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION)
-			AH->compression = 0;
-
 		/*
 		 * We don't support compression because reading the files back is not
 		 * possible since gzdopen uses buffered IO which totally screws file
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c
index e962107c9ec..4c38ece01d8 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.c
@@ -514,6 +514,11 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 			case 'Z':			/* Compression Level */
 				compressLevel = atoi(optarg);
+				if (compressLevel < 0 || compressLevel > 9)
+				{
+					write_msg(NULL, "compression level must be in range 0..9\n");
+					exit_nicely(1);
+				}
 				break;
 
 			case 0: