diff --git a/packages/babel-cli/src/babel/index.js b/packages/babel-cli/src/babel/index.js
index 004527d965..6d80942134 100755
--- a/packages/babel-cli/src/babel/index.js
+++ b/packages/babel-cli/src/babel/index.js
@@ -221,6 +221,17 @@ if (commander.deleteDirOnStart && !commander.outDir) {
   errors.push("--delete-dir-on-start requires --out-dir");
 }
 
+if (
+  !commander.outDir &&
+  filenames.length === 0 &&
+  typeof commander.filename !== "string" &&
+  commander.babelrc !== false
+) {
+  errors.push(
+    "stdin compilation requires either -f/--filename [filename] or --no-babelrc",
+  );
+}
+
 if (errors.length) {
   console.error(errors.join(". "));
   process.exit(2);
diff --git a/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/--config-file babelrc nocomment/options.json b/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/--config-file babelrc nocomment/options.json
index 40288838f2..a5d9f81b47 100644
--- a/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/--config-file babelrc nocomment/options.json	
+++ b/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/--config-file babelrc nocomment/options.json	
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  "args": ["--config-file", "../.othername_babelrc"]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+  "args": ["--config-file", "../.othername_babelrc", "-f", "file.js"]
+}
diff --git a/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/stdin --out-file/options.json b/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/stdin --out-file/options.json
index 5c5b1a4baa..7c157aa203 100644
--- a/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/stdin --out-file/options.json	
+++ b/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/stdin --out-file/options.json	
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  "args": ["--out-file", "script.js"]
+  "args": ["--out-file", "script.js", "-f", "file.js"]
 }
diff --git a/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/stdin/options.json b/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/stdin/options.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a9f1532c71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/babel-cli/test/fixtures/babel/stdin/options.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "args": ["-f", "file.js"]
+}