diff --git a/lib/zlib.js b/lib/zlib.js
index 0eb071a372c137..183ff7bfcf4b5c 100644
--- a/lib/zlib.js
+++ b/lib/zlib.js
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ for (var ck = 0; ck < ckeys.length; ck++) {
 }
 
 function zlibBuffer(engine, buffer, callback) {
+  if (typeof callback !== 'function')
+    throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE('callback', 'function', callback);
   // Streams do not support non-Buffer ArrayBufferViews yet. Convert it to a
   // Buffer without copying.
   if (isArrayBufferView(buffer) &&
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-zlib-convenience-methods.js b/test/parallel/test-zlib-convenience-methods.js
index 1cc393914a947e..5b7699f429efe7 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-zlib-convenience-methods.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-zlib-convenience-methods.js
@@ -119,3 +119,13 @@ for (const [type, expect] of [
     }
   }
 }
+
+common.expectsError(
+  () => zlib.gzip('abc'),
+  {
+    code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE',
+    type: TypeError,
+    message: 'The "callback" argument must be of type function. ' +
+             'Received type undefined'
+  }
+);