diff --git a/src/aof.c b/src/aof.c
index 4d842e519..1d04b5223 100644
--- a/src/aof.c
+++ b/src/aof.c
@@ -700,9 +700,12 @@ void freeFakeClient(struct client *c) {
     zfree(c);
 }
 
-/* Replay the append log file. On success C_OK is returned. On non fatal
- * error (the append only file is zero-length) C_ERR is returned. On
- * fatal error an error message is logged and the program exists. */
+/* Replay the append log file. On success AOF_OK is returned,
+ * otherwise, one of the following is returned:
+ * AOF_OPEN_ERR: Failed to open the AOF file.
+ * AOF_NOT_EXIST: AOF file doesn't exist.
+ * AOF_EMPTY: The AOF file is empty (nothing to load).
+ * AOF_FAILED: Failed to load the AOF file. */
 int loadAppendOnlyFile(char *filename) {
     struct client *fakeClient;
     FILE *fp = fopen(filename,"r");
@@ -711,10 +714,17 @@ int loadAppendOnlyFile(char *filename) {
     long loops = 0;
     off_t valid_up_to = 0; /* Offset of latest well-formed command loaded. */
     off_t valid_before_multi = 0; /* Offset before MULTI command loaded. */
+    int ret;
 
     if (fp == NULL) {
-        serverLog(LL_WARNING,"Fatal error: can't open the append log file for reading: %s",strerror(errno));
-        exit(1);
+        int en = errno;
+        if (redis_stat(filename, &sb) == 0) {
+            serverLog(LL_WARNING,"Fatal error: can't open the append log file for reading: %s",strerror(en));
+            return AOF_OPEN_ERR;
+        } else {
+            serverLog(LL_WARNING,"The append log file doesn't exist: %s",strerror(errno));
+            return AOF_NOT_EXIST;
+        }
     }
 
     /* Handle a zero-length AOF file as a special case. An empty AOF file
@@ -725,7 +735,7 @@ int loadAppendOnlyFile(char *filename) {
         server.aof_current_size = 0;
         server.aof_fsync_offset = server.aof_current_size;
         fclose(fp);
-        return C_ERR;
+        return AOF_EMPTY;
     }
 
     /* Temporarily disable AOF, to prevent EXEC from feeding a MULTI
@@ -826,7 +836,9 @@ int loadAppendOnlyFile(char *filename) {
             serverLog(LL_WARNING,
                 "Unknown command '%s' reading the append only file",
                 (char*)argv[0]->ptr);
-            exit(1);
+            freeFakeClientArgv(fakeClient);
+            ret = AOF_FAILED;
+            goto cleanup;
         }
 
         if (cmd == server.multiCommand) valid_before_multi = valid_up_to;
@@ -869,21 +881,18 @@ int loadAppendOnlyFile(char *filename) {
     }
 
 loaded_ok: /* DB loaded, cleanup and return C_OK to the caller. */
-    fclose(fp);
-    freeFakeClient(fakeClient);
     server.aof_state = old_aof_state;
-    stopLoading(1);
     aofUpdateCurrentSize();
     server.aof_rewrite_base_size = server.aof_current_size;
     server.aof_fsync_offset = server.aof_current_size;
-    return C_OK;
+    ret = AOF_OK;
+    goto cleanup;
 
 readerr: /* Read error. If feof(fp) is true, fall through to unexpected EOF. */
     if (!feof(fp)) {
-        if (fakeClient) freeFakeClient(fakeClient); /* avoid valgrind warning */
-        fclose(fp);
         serverLog(LL_WARNING,"Unrecoverable error reading the append only file: %s", strerror(errno));
-        exit(1);
+        ret = AOF_FAILED;
+        goto cleanup;
     }
 
 uxeof: /* Unexpected AOF end of file. */
@@ -911,16 +920,20 @@ uxeof: /* Unexpected AOF end of file. */
             }
         }
     }
-    if (fakeClient) freeFakeClient(fakeClient); /* avoid valgrind warning */
-    fclose(fp);
     serverLog(LL_WARNING,"Unexpected end of file reading the append only file. You can: 1) Make a backup of your AOF file, then use ./redis-check-aof --fix <filename>. 2) Alternatively you can set the 'aof-load-truncated' configuration option to yes and restart the server.");
-    exit(1);
+    ret = AOF_FAILED;
+    goto cleanup;
 
 fmterr: /* Format error. */
+    serverLog(LL_WARNING,"Bad file format reading the append only file: make a backup of your AOF file, then use ./redis-check-aof --fix <filename>");
+    ret = AOF_FAILED;
+    /* fall through to cleanup. */
+
+cleanup:
     if (fakeClient) freeFakeClient(fakeClient); /* avoid valgrind warning */
     fclose(fp);
-    serverLog(LL_WARNING,"Bad file format reading the append only file: make a backup of your AOF file, then use ./redis-check-aof --fix <filename>");
-    exit(1);
+    stopLoading(ret == AOF_OK);
+    return ret;
 }
 
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/debug.c b/src/debug.c
index 0ec4e3b97..53affc015 100644
--- a/src/debug.c
+++ b/src/debug.c
@@ -551,11 +551,9 @@ NULL
         emptyDb(-1,EMPTYDB_NO_FLAGS,NULL);
         protectClient(c);
         int ret = loadAppendOnlyFile(server.aof_filename);
+        if (ret != AOF_OK && ret != AOF_EMPTY)
+            exit(1);
         unprotectClient(c);
-        if (ret != C_OK) {
-            addReplyErrorObject(c,shared.err);
-            return;
-        }
         server.dirty = 0; /* Prevent AOF / replication */
         serverLog(LL_WARNING,"Append Only File loaded by DEBUG LOADAOF");
         addReply(c,shared.ok);
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index dcbc07a31..9033a9f5f 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -3342,17 +3342,6 @@ void initServer(void) {
     aeSetBeforeSleepProc(server.el,beforeSleep);
     aeSetAfterSleepProc(server.el,afterSleep);
 
-    /* Open the AOF file if needed. */
-    if (server.aof_state == AOF_ON) {
-        server.aof_fd = open(server.aof_filename,
-                               O_WRONLY|O_APPEND|O_CREAT,0644);
-        if (server.aof_fd == -1) {
-            serverLog(LL_WARNING, "Can't open the append-only file: %s",
-                strerror(errno));
-            exit(1);
-        }
-    }
-
     /* 32 bit instances are limited to 4GB of address space, so if there is
      * no explicit limit in the user provided configuration we set a limit
      * at 3 GB using maxmemory with 'noeviction' policy'. This avoids
@@ -5936,7 +5925,11 @@ int checkForSentinelMode(int argc, char **argv) {
 void loadDataFromDisk(void) {
     long long start = ustime();
     if (server.aof_state == AOF_ON) {
-        if (loadAppendOnlyFile(server.aof_filename) == C_OK)
+        /* It's not a failure if the file is empty or doesn't exist (later we will create it) */
+        int ret = loadAppendOnlyFile(server.aof_filename);
+        if (ret == AOF_FAILED || ret == AOF_OPEN_ERR)
+            exit(1);
+        if (ret == AOF_OK)
             serverLog(LL_NOTICE,"DB loaded from append only file: %.3f seconds",(float)(ustime()-start)/1000000);
     } else {
         rdbSaveInfo rsi = RDB_SAVE_INFO_INIT;
@@ -6370,6 +6363,16 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
         ACLLoadUsersAtStartup();
         InitServerLast();
         loadDataFromDisk();
+        /* Open the AOF file if needed. */
+        if (server.aof_state == AOF_ON) {
+            server.aof_fd = open(server.aof_filename,
+                                 O_WRONLY|O_APPEND|O_CREAT,0644);
+            if (server.aof_fd == -1) {
+                serverLog(LL_WARNING, "Can't open the append-only file: %s",
+                          strerror(errno));
+                exit(1);
+            }
+        }
         if (server.cluster_enabled) {
             if (verifyClusterConfigWithData() == C_ERR) {
                 serverLog(LL_WARNING,
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index 422320574..568e3ea53 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -222,6 +222,13 @@ extern int configOOMScoreAdjValuesDefaults[CONFIG_OOM_COUNT];
 #define AOF_ON 1              /* AOF is on */
 #define AOF_WAIT_REWRITE 2    /* AOF waits rewrite to start appending */
 
+/* AOF return values for loadAppendOnlyFile() */
+#define AOF_OK 0
+#define AOF_NOT_EXIST 1
+#define AOF_EMPTY 2
+#define AOF_OPEN_ERR 3
+#define AOF_FAILED 4
+
 /* Client flags */
 #define CLIENT_SLAVE (1<<0)   /* This client is a replica */
 #define CLIENT_MASTER (1<<1)  /* This client is a master */
diff --git a/tests/integration/aof.tcl b/tests/integration/aof.tcl
index a71dbb8c0..c19918b20 100644
--- a/tests/integration/aof.tcl
+++ b/tests/integration/aof.tcl
@@ -295,4 +295,29 @@ tags {"aof external:skip"} {
             assert_equal $before $after
         }
     }
+
+    ## Test that the server exits when the AOF contains a unknown command
+    create_aof {
+        append_to_aof [formatCommand set foo hello]
+        append_to_aof [formatCommand bla foo hello]
+        append_to_aof [formatCommand set foo hello]
+    }
+
+    start_server_aof [list dir $server_path aof-load-truncated yes] {
+        test "Unknown command: Server should have logged an error" {
+            set pattern "*Unknown command 'bla' reading the append only file*"
+            set retry 10
+            while {$retry} {
+                set result [exec tail -1 < [dict get $srv stdout]]
+                if {[string match $pattern $result]} {
+                    break
+                }
+                incr retry -1
+                after 1000
+            }
+            if {$retry == 0} {
+                error "assertion:expected error not found on config file"
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }