diff --git a/src/journal/journal-file.c b/src/journal/journal-file.c
index ae15f4b76a3..3353b3a0d81 100644
--- a/src/journal/journal-file.c
+++ b/src/journal/journal-file.c
@@ -3253,11 +3253,8 @@ int journal_file_open(
         if (!IN_SET((flags & O_ACCMODE), O_RDONLY, O_RDWR))
                 return -EINVAL;
 
-        if (fname) {
-                if (!endswith(fname, ".journal") &&
-                    !endswith(fname, ".journal~"))
-                        return -EINVAL;
-        }
+        if (fname && (flags & O_CREAT) && !endswith(fname, ".journal"))
+                return -EINVAL;
 
         f = new0(JournalFile, 1);
         if (!f)