diff --git a/compaction_picker.go b/compaction_picker.go
index 23239d0cf7..f9b54dc1aa 100644
--- a/compaction_picker.go
+++ b/compaction_picker.go
@@ -1239,8 +1239,13 @@ func (a elisionOnlyAnnotator) Accumulate(f *fileMetadata, dst interface{}) (inte
 	// which may be collapsed. Ideally, we would have 'obsolete keys'
 	// statistics that would include tombstones, the keys that are
 	// dropped by tombstones and duplicated user keys. See #847.
+	//
+	// Note that tables that contain exclusively range keys (i.e. no point keys,
+	// `NumEntries` and `RangeDeletionsBytesEstimate` are both zero) are excluded
+	// from elision-only compactions.
+	// TODO(travers): Consider an alternative heuristic for elision of range-keys.
 	if f.Stats.RangeDeletionsBytesEstimate*10 < f.Size &&
-		f.Stats.NumDeletions*10 < f.Stats.NumEntries {
+		f.Stats.NumDeletions*10 <= f.Stats.NumEntries {
 		return dst, true
 	}
 	if dst == nil {
diff --git a/compaction_picker_test.go b/compaction_picker_test.go
index 3f5dfa180c..4703e6380d 100644
--- a/compaction_picker_test.go
+++ b/compaction_picker_test.go
@@ -1176,6 +1176,7 @@ func TestCompactionOutputFileSize(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 				m.Stats.Valid = true
 				m.Stats.RangeDeletionsBytesEstimate = uint64(v)
+				m.Stats.NumDeletions = 1 // At least one range del responsible for the deletion bytes.
 			}
 		}
 		m.SmallestSeqNum = m.Smallest.SeqNum()
diff --git a/compaction_test.go b/compaction_test.go
index 6c73463303..f9eafb83a2 100644
--- a/compaction_test.go
+++ b/compaction_test.go
@@ -2097,6 +2097,7 @@ func TestCompactionTombstones(t *testing.T) {
 							compactInfo = &info
 						},
 					},
+					FormatMajorVersion: FormatNewest,
 				}
 				var err error
 				d, err = runDBDefineCmd(td, opts)
diff --git a/testdata/compaction_tombstones b/testdata/compaction_tombstones
index b1cd72482d..5151eb9dc9 100644
--- a/testdata/compaction_tombstones
+++ b/testdata/compaction_tombstones
@@ -244,3 +244,50 @@ range-deletions-bytes-estimate: 0
 maybe-compact
 ----
 [JOB 100] compacted(default) L5 [000004] (794 B) + L6 [000006] (13 K) -> L6 [] (0 B), in 1.0s (2.0s total), output rate 0 B/s
+
+# A table containing only range keys is not eligible for elision.
+# RANGEKEYDEL or RANGEKEYUNSET.
+
+define
+L6
+  rangekey:a-b:{(#1,RANGEKEYDEL)}
+L6
+  rangekey:b-c:{(#2,RANGEKEYUNSET,@1)}
+L6
+  rangekey:c-d:{(#3,RANGEKEYSET,@1)}
+----
+6:
+  000004:[a#1,RANGEKEYDEL-b#72057594037927935,RANGEKEYDEL]
+  000005:[b#2,RANGEKEYUNSET-c#72057594037927935,RANGEKEYUNSET]
+  000006:[c#3,RANGEKEYSET-d#72057594037927935,RANGEKEYSET]
+
+wait-pending-table-stats
+000004
+----
+num-entries: 0
+num-deletions: 0
+num-range-keys: 1
+point-deletions-bytes-estimate: 0
+range-deletions-bytes-estimate: 0
+
+wait-pending-table-stats
+000005
+----
+num-entries: 0
+num-deletions: 0
+num-range-keys: 1
+point-deletions-bytes-estimate: 0
+range-deletions-bytes-estimate: 0
+
+wait-pending-table-stats
+000006
+----
+num-entries: 0
+num-deletions: 0
+num-range-keys: 1
+point-deletions-bytes-estimate: 0
+range-deletions-bytes-estimate: 0
+
+maybe-compact
+----
+(none)