diff --git a/tools/db_bench_tool.cc b/tools/db_bench_tool.cc
index 10d05b025..c8b74d900 100644
--- a/tools/db_bench_tool.cc
+++ b/tools/db_bench_tool.cc
@@ -1148,9 +1148,10 @@ static enum ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE::CompressionType StringToCompressionType(
     return ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE::kXpressCompression;
   else if (!strcasecmp(ctype, "zstd"))
     return ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE::kZSTD;
-
-  fprintf(stdout, "Cannot parse compression type '%s'\n", ctype);
-  return ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE::kSnappyCompression;  // default value
+  else {
+    fprintf(stderr, "Cannot parse compression type '%s'\n", ctype);
+    exit(1);
+  }
 }
 
 static std::string ColumnFamilyName(size_t i) {