diff --git a/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_math_quaternion.hh b/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_math_quaternion.hh
index 4c0be97f225..9f18022bc9b 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_math_quaternion.hh
+++ b/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_math_quaternion.hh
@@ -630,8 +630,11 @@ AxisAngleBase<T, AngleT> to_axis_angle(const QuaternionBase<T> &quat)
   T sin_half_angle = math::length(axis);
   /* Prevent division by zero for axis conversion. */
   if (sin_half_angle < T(0.0005)) {
-    sin_half_angle = T(1);
-    axis[1] = T(1);
+    using AngleAxisT = typename AxisAngleBase<T, AngleT>::vec3_type;
+    const AngleAxisT identity_axis = AxisAngleBase<T, AngleT>::identity().axis();
+    BLI_assert(abs(cos_half_angle) > 0.0005);
+    AxisAngleBase<T, AngleT> identity(identity_axis * sign(cos_half_angle), AngleT(0));
+    return identity;
   }
   /* Normalize the axis. */
   axis /= sin_half_angle;
diff --git a/source/blender/blenlib/tests/BLI_math_rotation_test.cc b/source/blender/blenlib/tests/BLI_math_rotation_test.cc
index 8a04184532f..f5d0ed7cfb8 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenlib/tests/BLI_math_rotation_test.cc
+++ b/source/blender/blenlib/tests/BLI_math_rotation_test.cc
@@ -879,4 +879,22 @@ TEST(math_rotation, DualQuaternionTransform)
   }
 }
 
+TEST(math_axis_angle, AxisAngleFromQuaternion)
+{
+  {
+    const math::AxisAngle axis_angle({0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f}, math::AngleRadian(0));
+    const math::Quaternion quaternion(1.0f, {0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f});
+    const math::AxisAngle from_quaternion = math::to_axis_angle(quaternion);
+    EXPECT_V3_NEAR(axis_angle.axis(), from_quaternion.axis(), 1e-6);
+    EXPECT_NEAR(axis_angle.angle().radian(), from_quaternion.angle().radian(), 1e-6);
+  }
+  {
+    const math::AxisAngle axis_angle({0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f}, math::AngleRadian(0));
+    const math::Quaternion quaternion(-1.0f, {0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f});
+    const math::AxisAngle from_quaternion = math::to_axis_angle(quaternion);
+    EXPECT_V3_NEAR(axis_angle.axis(), from_quaternion.axis(), 1e-6);
+    EXPECT_NEAR(axis_angle.angle().radian(), from_quaternion.angle().radian(), 1e-6);
+  }
+}
+
 }  // namespace blender::math::tests