diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index d39a491c3..e2941e1e2 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -109,9 +109,10 @@ function handleInput(spawned, input) {
 	}
 }
 
-function handleOutput(options, value) {
+function handleOutput(options, value, error) {
 	if (typeof value !== 'string' && !Buffer.isBuffer(value)) {
-		return;
+		// When `execa.sync()` errors, we normalize it to '' to mimic `execa()`
+		return error === undefined ? undefined : '';
 	}
 
 	if (options.stripFinalNewline) {
@@ -427,8 +428,8 @@ module.exports.sync = (command, args, options) => {
 	}
 
 	const result = childProcess.spawnSync(parsed.command, parsed.args, parsed.options);
-	result.stdout = handleOutput(parsed.options, result.stdout);
-	result.stderr = handleOutput(parsed.options, result.stderr);
+	result.stdout = handleOutput(parsed.options, result.stdout, result.error);
+	result.stderr = handleOutput(parsed.options, result.stderr, result.error);
 
 	if (result.error || result.status !== 0 || result.signal !== null) {
 		const error = makeError(result, {
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 15775e44a..ac1d5eb9a 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ try {
 		command: 'wrong command',
 		exitCode: 2,
 		exitCodeName: 'ENOENT',
+		stdout: '',
+		stderr: '',
 		failed: true,
 		timedOut: false,
 		isCanceled: false,