diff --git a/binutils/objcopy.c b/binutils/objcopy.c
index 905ce917708..e90117af90b 100644
--- a/binutils/objcopy.c
+++ b/binutils/objcopy.c
@@ -2661,7 +2661,8 @@ set_long_section_mode (bfd *output_bfd, bfd *input_bfd, enum long_section_name_h
    Returns TRUE upon success, FALSE otherwise.  */
 
 static bool
-copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch)
+copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch,
+	     bool target_defaulted)
 {
   bfd_vma start;
   long symcount;
@@ -2812,7 +2813,7 @@ copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch)
       imach = 0;
     }
   if (!bfd_set_arch_mach (obfd, iarch, imach)
-      && (ibfd->target_defaulted
+      && (target_defaulted
 	  || bfd_get_arch (ibfd) != bfd_get_arch (obfd)))
     {
       if (bfd_get_arch (ibfd) == bfd_arch_unknown)
@@ -3615,7 +3616,8 @@ fail:
 static bool
 copy_archive (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const char *output_target,
 	      bool force_output_target,
-	      const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch)
+	      const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch,
+	      bool target_defaulted)
 {
   struct name_list
     {
@@ -3772,7 +3774,8 @@ copy_archive (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const char *output_target,
 #endif
       if (ok_object)
 	{
-	  ok = copy_object (this_element, output_element, input_arch);
+	  ok = copy_object (this_element, output_element, input_arch,
+			    target_defaulted);
 
 	  if (!ok && bfd_get_arch (this_element) == bfd_arch_unknown)
 	    /* Try again as an unknown object file.  */
@@ -3872,6 +3875,8 @@ copy_file (const char *input_filename, const char *output_filename, int ofd,
   char **core_matching;
   off_t size = get_file_size (input_filename);
   const char *target = input_target;
+  bool target_defaulted = (!input_target
+			   || strcmp (input_target, "default") == 0);
 
   if (size < 1)
     {
@@ -3979,7 +3984,7 @@ copy_file (const char *input_filename, const char *output_filename, int ofd,
 	}
 
       if (!copy_archive (ibfd, obfd, output_target, force_output_target,
-			 input_arch))
+			 input_arch, target_defaulted))
 	status = 1;
     }
   else if (
@@ -4034,7 +4039,7 @@ copy_file (const char *input_filename, const char *output_filename, int ofd,
       else
 #endif
 	{
-	  if (! copy_object (ibfd, obfd, input_arch))
+	  if (! copy_object (ibfd, obfd, input_arch, target_defaulted))
 	    status = 1;
 
 	  /* PR 17512: file: 0f15796a.
diff --git a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/x86-64/pr33230.obj.bz2 b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/x86-64/pr33230.obj.bz2
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6309a2ad810
Binary files /dev/null and b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/x86-64/pr33230.obj.bz2 differ
diff --git a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/x86-64/x86-64.exp b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/x86-64/x86-64.exp
index ab1aa50a9a1..a3fe6b13a7c 100644
--- a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/x86-64/x86-64.exp
+++ b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/x86-64/x86-64.exp
@@ -254,3 +254,36 @@ run_pr33198_test "" "-R .gnu.lto_* -R .gnu.debuglto_* -R .llvm.lto -N __gnu_lto_
 run_pr33198_test "-fat" "-R .gnu.lto_* -R .gnu.debuglto_* -R .llvm.lto -N __gnu_lto_v1"
 run_pr33198_test "" "-R .llvm.lto"
 run_pr33198_test "-fat" "-R .llvm.lto"
+
+set t $srcdir/$subdir/pr33230.obj.bz2
+# We need to strip the ".bz2", but can leave the dirname.
+set test $subdir/[file tail $t]
+set testname [file rootname $test]
+verbose $testname
+set obj tmpdir/pr33230.o
+if {[catch "system \"bzip2 -dc $t > $obj\""] != 0} {
+  untested "bzip2 -dc ($testname)"
+} else {
+    set cmd "$STRIP $obj -o ${obj}.strip"
+    send_log "$cmd\n"
+    verbose "$cmd" 1
+    catch "exec $cmd" got
+    if [regexp "Unable to recognise the format" $got] then {
+	pass "$testname"
+    } else {
+	send_log "$got\n"
+	verbose "$got" 1
+	fail "$testname"
+    }
+    set cmd "$STRIP --input-target=default $obj -o ${obj}.strip"
+    send_log "$cmd\n"
+    verbose "$cmd" 1
+    catch "exec $cmd" got
+    if [regexp "Unable to recognise the format" $got] then {
+	pass "$testname"
+    } else {
+	send_log "$got\n"
+	verbose "$got" 1
+	fail "$testname (--input-target=default)"
+    }
+}