diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index 5286432f39..e1af9b19f0 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1207,9 +1207,6 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
 		usage_with_options(builtin_status_usage, builtin_status_options);
 
-	if (null_termination && status_format == STATUS_FORMAT_LONG)
-		status_format = STATUS_FORMAT_PORCELAIN;
-
 	wt_status_prepare(&s);
 	gitmodules_config();
 	git_config(git_status_config, &s);
@@ -1217,6 +1214,10 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
 			     builtin_status_options,
 			     builtin_status_usage, 0);
+
+	if (null_termination && status_format == STATUS_FORMAT_LONG)
+		status_format = STATUS_FORMAT_PORCELAIN;
+
 	handle_untracked_files_arg(&s);
 	if (show_ignored_in_status)
 		s.show_ignored_files = 1;
diff --git a/t/t7508-status.sh b/t/t7508-status.sh
index cd6e2c5e87..1fdfbd3865 100755
--- a/t/t7508-status.sh
+++ b/t/t7508-status.sh
@@ -780,6 +780,13 @@ test_expect_success 'status -s submodule summary (clean submodule)' '
 	test_cmp expect output
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'status -z implies porcelain' '
+	git status --porcelain |
+	perl -pe "s/\012/\000/g" >expect &&
+	git status -z >output &&
+	test_cmp expect output
+'
+
 cat >expect <<EOF
 # On branch master
 # Changes to be committed: