diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index a524af2923..e53135ccdf 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -16,12 +16,11 @@ const stack_size = 46 * 1024 * 1024;
 
 pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
     const only_c = b.option(bool, "only-c", "Translate the Zig compiler to C code, with only the C backend enabled") orelse false;
-    const target = t: {
-        var default_target: std.Target.Query = .{};
-        default_target.ofmt = b.option(std.Target.ObjectFormat, "ofmt", "Object format to target") orelse if (only_c) .c else null;
-        break :t b.standardTargetOptions(.{ .default_target = default_target });
-    };
-
+    const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{
+        .default_target = .{
+            .ofmt = if (only_c) .c else null,
+        },
+    });
     const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});
 
     const flat = b.option(bool, "flat", "Put files into the installation prefix in a manner suited for upstream distribution rather than a posix file system hierarchy standard") orelse false;
diff --git a/lib/std/Build.zig b/lib/std/Build.zig
index ac97a23e9f..ff888dadec 100644
--- a/lib/std/Build.zig
+++ b/lib/std/Build.zig
@@ -1635,13 +1635,18 @@ pub fn standardTargetOptionsQueryOnly(b: *Build, args: StandardTargetOptionsArgs
         "cpu",
         "Target CPU features to add or subtract",
     );
+    const ofmt = b.option(
+        []const u8,
+        "ofmt",
+        "Target object format",
+    );
     const dynamic_linker = b.option(
         []const u8,
         "dynamic-linker",
         "Path to interpreter on the target system",
     );
 
-    if (maybe_triple == null and mcpu == null and dynamic_linker == null)
+    if (maybe_triple == null and mcpu == null and ofmt == null and dynamic_linker == null)
         return args.default_target;
 
     const triple = maybe_triple orelse "native";
@@ -1649,6 +1654,7 @@ pub fn standardTargetOptionsQueryOnly(b: *Build, args: StandardTargetOptionsArgs
     const selected_target = parseTargetQuery(.{
         .arch_os_abi = triple,
         .cpu_features = mcpu,
+        .object_format = ofmt,
         .dynamic_linker = dynamic_linker,
     }) catch |err| switch (err) {
         error.ParseFailed => {