diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index 27688d6ac..7fd81aa3f 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 ### New Features
 ### Bug Fixes
+* Avoid creating empty SSTs and subsequently deleting them in certain cases during compaction.
 
 ## 5.16.0 (8/21/2018)
 ### Public API Change
diff --git a/db/compaction_job.cc b/db/compaction_job.cc
index 3c6f1eefd..ada49103c 100644
--- a/db/compaction_job.cc
+++ b/db/compaction_job.cc
@@ -1077,7 +1077,8 @@ void CompactionJob::ProcessKeyValueCompaction(SubcompactionState* sub_compact) {
   }
 
   if (status.ok() && sub_compact->builder == nullptr &&
-      sub_compact->outputs.size() == 0) {
+      sub_compact->outputs.size() == 0 &&
+      !range_del_agg->IsEmpty()) {
     // handle subcompaction containing only range deletions
     status = OpenCompactionOutputFile(sub_compact);
   }