diff --git a/lisp/ob-tangle.el b/lisp/ob-tangle.el
index 27443fc2e..980d4a120 100644
--- a/lisp/ob-tangle.el
+++ b/lisp/ob-tangle.el
@@ -158,9 +158,9 @@ result.  The default value is `org-remove-indentation'."
   :version "24.1"
   :type 'function)
 
-(defcustom org-babel-tangle-default-file-mode #o544
+(defcustom org-babel-tangle-default-file-mode #o644
   "The default mode used for tangled files, as an integer.
-The default value 356 correspands to the octal #o544, which is
+The default value 420 correspands to the octal #o644, which is
 read-write permissions for the user, read-only for everyone else."
   :group 'org-babel-tangle
   :package-version '(Org . "9.6")
@@ -361,9 +361,9 @@ Did you give the decimal value %1$d by mistake?" mode)))
     ;; Match regexp taken from `file-modes-symbolic-to-number'.
     (file-modes-symbolic-to-number mode org-babel-tangle-default-file-mode))
    ((string-match-p "^[r-][w-][xs-][r-][w-][xs-][r-][w-][x-]$" mode)
-    (file-modes-symbolic-to-number (concat  "u=" (substring mode 0 3)
-                                            ",g=" (substring mode 3 6)
-                                            ",o=" (substring mode 6 9))
+    (file-modes-symbolic-to-number (concat "u="  (delete ?- (substring mode 0 3))
+                                           ",g=" (delete ?- (substring mode 3 6))
+                                           ",o=" (delete ?- (substring mode 6 9)))
                                    0))
    (t (error "File mode %S not recognized as a valid format. See `org-babel-interpret-file-mode'." mode))))