diff --git a/IO/FITS/FITS.pm b/IO/FITS/FITS.pm
index 295dd5049..56311eb06 100644
--- a/IO/FITS/FITS.pm
+++ b/IO/FITS/FITS.pm
@@ -1220,6 +1220,8 @@ our $tile_compressors = {
       die "rfits: error while loading PDL::Compression to pack tile-compressed image.\n\t$@\n" if $@;
       my ($tiles, $tbl, $params) = @_;
       my $blocksize = $params->{BLOCKSIZE} || 32;
+      my $tiles_ndims = $tiles->ndims;
+      $tiles = $tiles->clump(1..$tiles_ndims-1) if $tiles_ndims > 2;
       my ($compressed,undef,undef,$len) = $tiles->rice_compress($blocksize);
       $tbl->{ZNAME1} = "BLOCKSIZE";
       $tbl->{ZVAL1} = $blocksize;
diff --git a/IO/FITS/t/fits.t b/IO/FITS/t/fits.t
index 5d9333a49..abffe714c 100644
--- a/IO/FITS/t/fits.t
+++ b/IO/FITS/t/fits.t
@@ -339,15 +339,21 @@ ok( sum(abs(convert($x,short)-$y)) < 1.0e-5, "  and the values" );
 my $m51 = rfits('t/m51.fits.fz');
 is_deeply [$m51->dims], [384,384], 'right dims from compressed FITS file';
 (undef, my $fname) = File::Temp::tempfile( 'delmeXXXXX', SUFFIX => '.fits', %tmp_opts );
-my $m51_2;
 if ($PDL::Astro_FITS_Header) {
 my $m51_tbl = rfits('t/m51.fits.fz',{expand=>0});
 wfits($m51_tbl, $fname);
-$m51_2 = rfits($fname);
+my $m51_2 = rfits($fname);
 ok all(approx $m51, $m51_2), 'read back written-out bintable FITS file' or diag "got:", $m51_2->info;
 $m51->wfits($fname, {compress=>1});
 $m51_2 = rfits($fname);
 ok all(approx $m51, $m51_2), 'read back written-out compressed FITS file' or diag "got:", $m51_2->info;
+$m51_2->hdrcpy(1);
+$m51_2 = $m51_2->dummy(2,3)->sever;
+$m51_2->hdr->{NAXIS} = 3;
+$m51_2->hdr->{NAXIS3} = 3;
+$m51_2->wfits($fname, {compress=>1});
+my $m51_3 = rfits($fname);
+ok all(approx $m51_3, $m51_2), 'read back written-out compressed RGB FITS file' or diag "got:", $m51_3->info;
 }
 }