diff --git a/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py b/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
index 369cb4feb16..88b2aa22177 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@
 from random import randint, random
 from unittest import skipUnless
 
-from test.support import TESTFN, run_unittest, findfile, unlink, requires_zlib, requires_bz2, requires_lzma
+from test.support import (TESTFN, run_unittest, findfile, unlink,
+                          requires_zlib, requires_bz2, requires_lzma,
+                          captured_stdout)
 
 TESTFN2 = TESTFN + "2"
 TESTFNDIR = TESTFN + "d"
@@ -854,6 +856,28 @@ def test_write_non_pyfile(self):
             self.assertRaises(RuntimeError, zipfp.writepy, TESTFN)
             os.remove(TESTFN)
 
+    def test_write_pyfile_bad_syntax(self):
+        os.mkdir(TESTFN2)
+        try:
+            with open(os.path.join(TESTFN2, "mod1.py"), "w") as fp:
+                fp.write("Bad syntax in python file\n")
+
+            with TemporaryFile() as t, zipfile.PyZipFile(t, "w") as zipfp:
+                # syntax errors are printed to stdout
+                with captured_stdout() as s:
+                    zipfp.writepy(os.path.join(TESTFN2, "mod1.py"))
+
+                self.assertIn("SyntaxError", s.getvalue())
+
+                # as it will not have compiled the python file, it will
+                # include the .py file not .pyc or .pyo
+                names = zipfp.namelist()
+                self.assertIn('mod1.py', names)
+                self.assertNotIn('mod1.pyc', names)
+                self.assertNotIn('mod1.pyo', names)
+
+        finally:
+            shutil.rmtree(TESTFN2)
 
 class OtherTests(unittest.TestCase):
     zips_with_bad_crc = {
diff --git a/Lib/zipfile.py b/Lib/zipfile.py
index 2fa7a8c15a4..64f9092d124 100644
--- a/Lib/zipfile.py
+++ b/Lib/zipfile.py
@@ -1604,7 +1604,7 @@ def _compile(file, optimize=-1):
                 print("Compiling", file)
             try:
                 py_compile.compile(file, doraise=True, optimize=optimize)
-            except py_compile.PyCompileError as error:
+            except py_compile.PyCompileError as err:
                 print(err.msg)
                 return False
             return True
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index 0888c3d2f9a..7e121b1db55 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -825,6 +825,7 @@ Skip Montanaro
 Peter Moody
 Paul Moore
 Ross Moore
+Ben Morgan
 Derek Morr
 James A Morrison
 Derek McTavish Mounce
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index ef5c6bd9403..beee1c39f73 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -236,6 +236,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #12004: Fix an internal error in PyZipFile when writing an invalid
+  Python file.  Patch by Ben Morgan.
+
 Have py_compile use importlib as much as possible to avoid code duplication.
 
 - Issue #180022: Have site.addpackage() consider already known paths even when