diff --git a/Modules/_zstd/compressor.c b/Modules/_zstd/compressor.c
index b2eb22d9ec8add..894568fce28d0d 100644
--- a/Modules/_zstd/compressor.c
+++ b/Modules/_zstd/compressor.c
@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@ _zstd_ZstdCompressor_new_impl(PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *level,
     }
 
     self->use_multithread = 0;
+    self->compression_level = ZSTD_CLEVEL_DEFAULT;
     self->dict = NULL;
     self->lock = (PyMutex){0};