diff --git a/vnc.c b/vnc.c
index ed0e096000..9cf38d19db 100644
--- a/vnc.c
+++ b/vnc.c
@@ -1644,7 +1644,7 @@ static void set_encodings(VncState *vs, int32_t *encodings, size_t n_encodings)
     vs->features = 0;
     vs->vnc_encoding = 0;
     vs->tight_compression = 9;
-    vs->tight_quality = 9;
+    vs->tight_quality = -1; /* Lossless by default */
     vs->absolute = -1;
 
     /*