diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/gz/ReaderWriterGZ.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/gz/ReaderWriterGZ.cpp
index f3503f484..971725f54 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/gz/ReaderWriterGZ.cpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/gz/ReaderWriterGZ.cpp
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ bool ReaderWriterGZ::read(std::istream& fin, std::string& destination) const
                        15 + 32 // autodected zlib or gzip header
                        );
     if (ret != Z_OK)
-        return ret;
+        return false;
 
     /* decompress until deflate stream ends or end of file */
     do {