diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index 57dd3298..f2eeb4c5 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -1502,6 +1502,11 @@ function RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!(plotattributes::AKW)
         plotattributes[:framestyle] = _framestyleAliases[plotattributes[:framestyle]]
     end
 
+    # contours
+    if haskey(plotattributes, :levels)
+        check_contour_levels(plotattributes[:levels])
+    end
+
     # warnings for moved recipes
     st = get(plotattributes, :seriestype, :path)
     if st in (:boxplot, :violin, :density) && !isdefined(Main, :StatsPlots)
@@ -1629,6 +1634,26 @@ convertLegendValue(v::AbstractArray) = map(convertLegendValue, v)
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+"""Throw an error if the `levels` keyword argument is not of the correct type
+or `levels` is less than 1"""
+function check_contour_levels(levels)
+    if !(levels isa Union{Integer,AVec})
+        throw(
+            ArgumentError(
+                "the levels keyword argument must be an integer or AbstractVector",
+            ),
+        )
+    elseif levels isa Integer && levels <= 0
+        throw(
+            ArgumentError(
+                "must pass a positive number of contours to the levels keyword argument",
+            ),
+        )
+    end
+end
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 # 1-row matrices will give an element
 # multi-row matrices will give a column
 # InputWrapper just gives the contents
diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index 2ef25820..d0d237d3 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -390,8 +390,6 @@ function py_add_series(plt::Plot{PyPlotBackend}, series::Series)
     elseif isvector(levels)
         extrakw[:levels] = levels
         ()
-    else
-        error("Only numbers and vectors are supported with levels keyword")
     end
 
     # add custom frame shapes to markershape?
diff --git a/test/test_contours.jl b/test/test_contours.jl
index 134d4625..82e42bec 100644
--- a/test/test_contours.jl
+++ b/test/test_contours.jl
@@ -1,31 +1,68 @@
 using Plots, Test
+import RecipesPipeline
 
 @testset "Contours" begin
-    x = (-2π):0.1:(2π)
-    y = (-π):0.1:π
-    z = cos.(y) .* sin.(x')
-
-    @testset "Default number" begin
-        @test contour(x, y, z)[1][1].plotattributes[:levels] ==
-              Plots._series_defaults[:levels]
+    @testset "check_contour_levels" begin
+        @test Plots.check_contour_levels(2) === nothing
+        @test Plots.check_contour_levels(-1.0:0.2:10.0) === nothing
+        @test Plots.check_contour_levels([-100, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 100]) === nothing
+        @test_throws ArgumentError Plots.check_contour_levels(1.0)
+        @test_throws ArgumentError Plots.check_contour_levels((1, 2, 3))
+        @test_throws ArgumentError Plots.check_contour_levels(-3)
     end
 
-    @testset "Number" begin
-        @testset "$n contours" for n in (2, 5, 100)
-            p = contour(x, y, z, levels = n)
-            attr = p[1][1].plotattributes
-            @test attr[:seriestype] == :contour
-            @test attr[:levels] == n
+    @testset "RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!" begin
+        function equal_after_pipeline(kw)
+            kw′ = deepcopy(kw)
+            RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!(kw′)
+            kw == kw′
+        end
+
+        @test equal_after_pipeline(KW(:levels => 1))
+        @test equal_after_pipeline(KW(:levels => 1:10))
+        @test equal_after_pipeline(KW(:levels => [1.0, 3.0, 5.0]))
+        @test_throws ArgumentError RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!(
+            KW(:levels => 1.0),
+        )
+        @test_throws ArgumentError RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!(
+            KW(:levels => (1, 2, 3)),
+        )
+        @test_throws ArgumentError RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!(KW(:levels => -3))
+    end
+
+    @testset "contour[f]" begin
+        x = (-2π):0.1:(2π)
+        y = (-π):0.1:π
+        z = cos.(y) .* sin.(x')
+
+        @testset "Incorrect input" begin
+            @test_throws ArgumentError contour(x, y, z, levels = 1.0)
+            @test_throws ArgumentError contour(x, y, z, levels = (1, 2, 3))
+            @test_throws ArgumentError contour(x, y, z, levels = -3)
+        end
+
+        @testset "Default number" begin
+            @test contour(x, y, z)[1][1].plotattributes[:levels] ==
+                  Plots._series_defaults[:levels]
+        end
+
+        @testset "Number" begin
+            @testset "$n contours" for n in (2, 5, 100)
+                p = contour(x, y, z, levels = n)
+                attr = p[1][1].plotattributes
+                @test attr[:seriestype] == :contour
+                @test attr[:levels] == n
+            end
+        end
+
+        @testset "Range" begin
+            levels = -1:0.5:1
+            @test contour(x, y, z, levels = levels)[1][1].plotattributes[:levels] == levels
+        end
+
+        @testset "Set of levels" begin
+            levels = [-1, 0.25, 0, 0.25, 1]
+            @test contour(x, y, z, levels = levels)[1][1].plotattributes[:levels] == levels
         end
     end
-
-    @testset "Range" begin
-        levels = -1:0.5:1
-        @test contour(x, y, z, levels = levels)[1][1].plotattributes[:levels] == levels
-    end
-
-    @testset "Set of levels" begin
-        levels = [-1, 0.25, 0, 0.25, 1]
-        @test contour(x, y, z, levels = levels)[1][1].plotattributes[:levels] == levels
-    end
 end