diff --git a/package/CHANGELOG b/package/CHANGELOG
index f1fc9cf0e4a..f75f30545d5 100644
--- a/package/CHANGELOG
+++ b/package/CHANGELOG
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ Enhancements
   * Added groupby method to Group objects. (PR #1112)
 
 Fixes
+  * Give correct error when the topology file format is not recognized (Issue #982)
   * Give correct error when file doesn't exist/ has bad permissions (Issue #981)
   * Improvement of analysis/waterdynamics module (Issue #935)
   * Removed MDAnalysis.analysis.PDBToBinaryTraj (Issue #1035)
diff --git a/package/MDAnalysis/core/_get_readers.py b/package/MDAnalysis/core/_get_readers.py
index ecc9dfdf02e..c998424833b 100644
--- a/package/MDAnalysis/core/_get_readers.py
+++ b/package/MDAnalysis/core/_get_readers.py
@@ -214,14 +214,13 @@ def get_parser_for(filename, format=None):
         return _PARSERS[format]
     except KeyError:
         raise ValueError(
-            "Cannot autodetect topology type for file '{0}' "
-            "(file extension could not be parsed).\n"
-            "           You can use 'Universe(topology, ..., topology_format=FORMAT)' "
-            "to explicitly specify the format and\n"
-            "           override automatic detection. Known FORMATs are:\n"
-            "           {1}\n"
-            "           See http://docs.mdanalysis.org/documentation_pages/topology/init.html#supported-topology-formats\n"
-            "           For missing formats, raise an issue at "
-            "http://issues.mdanalysis.org".format(filename, _PARSERS.keys()))
+            "'{0}' isn't a valid topology format\n"
+            "   You can use 'Universe(topology, ..., topology_format=FORMAT)' "
+            "   to explicitly specify the format and\n"
+            "   override automatic detection. Known FORMATs are:\n"
+            "   {1}\n"
+            "   See http://docs.mdanalysis.org/documentation_pages/topology/init.html#supported-topology-formats\n"
+            "   For missing formats, raise an issue at "
+            "   http://issues.mdanalysis.org".format(format, _PARSERS.keys()))
 
 
diff --git a/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/core/test_universe.py b/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/core/test_universe.py
index d268a98ae28..f5a062bbf20 100644
--- a/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/core/test_universe.py
+++ b/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/core/test_universe.py
@@ -75,6 +75,19 @@ def test_Universe_no_trajectory_AE():
 
         assert_raises(AttributeError, getattr, u, 'trajectory')
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def test_Universe_topology_unrecognizedformat_VE():
+        assert_raises(ValueError, mda.Universe, 'some.weird.not.pdb.but.converted.xtc')
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def test_Universe_topology_unrecognizedformat_VE_msg():
+        try:
+            mda.Universe('some.weird.not.pdb.but.converted.xtc')
+        except ValueError as e:
+            assert_('isn\'t a valid topology format' in e.args[0])
+        else:
+            raise AssertionError
+
     @staticmethod
     def test_Universe_topology_IE():
         assert_raises(IOError,