diff --git a/qemu-img.c b/qemu-img.c
index 466fdef623..9b28664a30 100644
--- a/qemu-img.c
+++ b/qemu-img.c
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ static int img_create(int argc, char **argv)
         } else if (ret == -EFBIG) {
             error("The image size is too large for file format '%s'", fmt);
         } else {
-            error("Error while formatting");
+            error("%s: error while creating %s: %s", filename, fmt, strerror(-ret));
         }
     }
     return 0;
@@ -687,7 +687,7 @@ static int img_convert(int argc, char **argv)
         } else if (ret == -EFBIG) {
             error("The image size is too large for file format '%s'", out_fmt);
         } else {
-            error("Error while formatting '%s'", out_filename);
+            error("%s: error while converting %s: %s", out_filename, out_fmt, strerror(-ret));
         }
     }