diff --git a/source/reference/program/mongodump.txt b/source/reference/program/mongodump.txt
index af1145e1869..078d4c92dc1 100644
--- a/source/reference/program/mongodump.txt
+++ b/source/reference/program/mongodump.txt
@@ -154,11 +154,16 @@ Options
 
 .. option:: --out <path>, -o <path>
 
-   Specifies a directory where :program:`mongodump` will save the output
-   of the database dump. To output the database dump to standard output,
-   specify a ``-`` rather than a path.
-   By default, :program:`mongodump` will save output files in a
-   directory named ``dump`` in the current working directory.
+   Specifies a directory where :program:`mongodump` saves the output of
+   the database dump. By default, :program:`mongodump` saves output
+   files in a directory named ``dump`` in the current working directory.
+
+   To send the database dump to standard output, specify "``-``" instead
+   of a path. This can be useful as you can then redirect the output,
+   such as to gzip for compression. If you use this option,
+   :program:`mongodump` outputs only data and no metadata.
+   :program:`mongodump` does not output the metadata that normally would
+   be written to the ``metadata.json`` file.
 
 .. option:: --query <json>, -q <json>