diff --git a/src/plugin/plugin-bridge.cpp b/src/plugin/plugin-bridge.cpp
index 740f34f5..3cb7b1a4 100644
--- a/src/plugin/plugin-bridge.cpp
+++ b/src/plugin/plugin-bridge.cpp
@@ -709,16 +709,16 @@ PluginArchitecture find_vst_architecture(fs::path plugin_path) {
         case 0x0000:  // IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_UNKNOWN
             return PluginArchitecture::vst_64;
             break;
-        default: {
-            std::ostringstream error_msg;
-            error_msg << "'" << plugin_path
-                      << "' is neither a x86 nor a x86_64 PE32 file. Actual "
-                         "architecture: 0x"
-                      << std::hex << machine_type;
-
-            throw std::runtime_error(error_msg.str());
-        } break;
     }
+
+    // When compiled without optimizations, GCC 9.3 will warn that the function
+    // does not return if we put this in a `default:` case instead.
+    std::ostringstream error_msg;
+    error_msg << "'" << plugin_path
+              << "' is neither a x86 nor a x86_64 PE32 file. Actual "
+                 "architecture: 0x"
+              << std::hex << machine_type;
+    throw std::runtime_error(error_msg.str());
 }
 
 fs::path find_vst_host(PluginArchitecture plugin_arch) {