diff --git a/programs/fileio.c b/programs/fileio.c
index 16d06287d..0365f1449 100644
--- a/programs/fileio.c
+++ b/programs/fileio.c
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ static FILE* FIO_openSrcFile(const char* srcFileName)
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    if (!UTIL_isRegularFile(srcFileName)) {
+    if (!UTIL_isRegularFile(srcFileName) && !UTIL_isFIFO(srcFileName)) {
         DISPLAYLEVEL(1, "zstd: %s is not a regular file -- ignored \n",
                         srcFileName);
         return NULL;
diff --git a/programs/util.c b/programs/util.c
index e1aa447a2..587058805 100644
--- a/programs/util.c
+++ b/programs/util.c
@@ -126,6 +126,19 @@ int UTIL_isSameFile(const char* fName1, const char* fName2)
 #endif
 }
 
+U32 UTIL_isFIFO(const char* infilename)
+{
+/* macro guards, as defined in : https://linux.die.net/man/2/lstat */
+#if PLATFORM_POSIX_VERSION >= 200112L
+    stat_t statbuf;
+    int r = UTIL_getFileStat(infilename, &statbuf);
+    if (!r && S_ISFIFO(statbuf.st_mode)) return 1;
+#endif
+    (void)infilename;
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
 U32 UTIL_isLink(const char* infilename)
 {
 /* macro guards, as defined in : https://linux.die.net/man/2/lstat */
diff --git a/programs/util.h b/programs/util.h
index c73f7e9b0..71ba0d4fc 100644
--- a/programs/util.h
+++ b/programs/util.h
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ int UTIL_getFileStat(const char* infilename, stat_t* statbuf);
 int UTIL_isSameFile(const char* file1, const char* file2);
 int UTIL_compareStr(const void *p1, const void *p2);
 
+U32 UTIL_isFIFO(const char* infilename);
 U32 UTIL_isLink(const char* infilename);
 #define UTIL_FILESIZE_UNKNOWN  ((U64)(-1))
 U64 UTIL_getFileSize(const char* infilename);
diff --git a/programs/zstdcli.c b/programs/zstdcli.c
index 803c50377..3d5c4280e 100644
--- a/programs/zstdcli.c
+++ b/programs/zstdcli.c
@@ -1004,7 +1004,7 @@ int main(int argCount, const char* argv[])
     if (!followLinks) {
         unsigned u;
         for (u=0, fileNamesNb=0; u<filenameIdx; u++) {
-            if (UTIL_isLink(filenameTable[u])) {
+            if (UTIL_isLink(filenameTable[u]) && !UTIL_isFIFO(filenameTable[u])) {
                 DISPLAYLEVEL(2, "Warning : %s is a symbolic link, ignoring\n", filenameTable[u]);
             } else {
                 filenameTable[fileNamesNb++] = filenameTable[u];
diff --git a/tests/playTests.sh b/tests/playTests.sh
index 796a5bde9..f68ee81a5 100755
--- a/tests/playTests.sh
+++ b/tests/playTests.sh
@@ -1099,4 +1099,14 @@ test -f dictionary
 rm -f tmp* dictionary
 
 
+println "\n===>  zstd fifo named pipe test "
+head -c 10 /dev/zero > tmp_original
+mkfifo named_pipe
+head -c 10 /dev/zero > named_pipe &
+$ZSTD named_pipe -o tmp_compressed
+$ZSTD -d -o tmp_decompressed tmp_compressed
+$DIFF -s tmp_original tmp_decompressed
+rm -rf tmp*
+rm -rf named_pipe
+
 rm -f tmp*