diff --git a/gax/src/streamingCalls/streaming.ts b/gax/src/streamingCalls/streaming.ts
index c55b5ffe2..1381b9d9c 100644
--- a/gax/src/streamingCalls/streaming.ts
+++ b/gax/src/streamingCalls/streaming.ts
@@ -342,8 +342,9 @@ export class StreamProxy extends duplexify implements GRPCCallResult {
 
   defaultShouldRetry(error: GoogleError, retry: RetryOptions) {
     if (
-      retry.retryCodes.length > 0 &&
-      retry.retryCodes.indexOf(error!.code!) < 0
+      (retry.retryCodes.length > 0 &&
+        retry.retryCodes.indexOf(error!.code!) < 0) ||
+      retry.retryCodes.length === 0
     ) {
       return false;
     }
diff --git a/gax/test/unit/streaming.ts b/gax/test/unit/streaming.ts
index 576ab3b83..d9c8a10f6 100644
--- a/gax/test/unit/streaming.ts
+++ b/gax/test/unit/streaming.ts
@@ -1265,6 +1265,60 @@ describe('handles server streaming retries in gax when gaxStreamingRetries is en
       }
     });
   });
+  it('does not retry when there is no shouldRetryFn and retryCodes is an empty array', done => {
+    const retrySpy = sinon.spy(streaming.StreamProxy.prototype, 'retry');
+    const firstError = Object.assign(new GoogleError('UNAVAILABLE'), {
+      code: 14,
+      details: 'UNAVAILABLE',
+      metadata: new Metadata(),
+    });
+
+    const spy = sinon.spy((...args: Array<{}>) => {
+      assert.strictEqual(args.length, 3);
+      const s = new PassThrough({
+        objectMode: true,
+      });
+      s.push('hello');
+      setImmediate(() => {
+        s.emit('metadata');
+      });
+      setImmediate(() => {
+        s.emit('error', firstError);
+      });
+      return s;
+    });
+
+    const apiCall = createApiCallStreaming(
+      spy,
+      streaming.StreamType.SERVER_STREAMING,
+      false,
+      true
+    );
+
+    const call = apiCall(
+      {},
+      {
+        // pass an empty array for retryCodes
+        retry: gax.createRetryOptions([], {
+          initialRetryDelayMillis: 100,
+          retryDelayMultiplier: 1.2,
+          maxRetryDelayMillis: 1000,
+          rpcTimeoutMultiplier: 1.5,
+          maxRpcTimeoutMillis: 3000,
+          maxRetries: 2,
+        }),
+      }
+    );
+
+    call.on('error', err => {
+      assert(err instanceof GoogleError);
+      if (err.code === 14) {
+        assert.strictEqual(err.code, 14);
+        assert.strictEqual(retrySpy.callCount, 0);
+        done();
+      }
+    });
+  });
 
   it('server streaming call retries until exceeding total timeout', done => {
     const firstError = Object.assign(new GoogleError('UNAVAILABLE'), {