diff --git a/stream.c b/stream.c
index 9211648..c2784ed 100644
--- a/stream.c
+++ b/stream.c
@@ -304,7 +304,9 @@ static int lzma_compress_buf(rzip_control *control, struct compress_thread *cthr
 		return 0;
 
 	/* only 7 levels with lzma, scale them */
-	lzma_level = control->compression_level * 7 / 9 ? : 1;
+	lzma_level = control->compression_level * 7 / 9;
+	if (!lzma_level)
+		lzma_level = 1;
 
 	print_maxverbose("Starting lzma back end compression thread...\n");
 retry: