A fluid filter comprises a housing, a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, a filter element separating a raw side and a clean side from one another, and a valve unit. The valve unit comprises a valve plate arranged concentrically in the housing and having the shape of a circular ring disc, having valve openings and a flexible circular-ring-disc-shaped valve membrane arranged on the valve plate. The filter element comprises an axially protruding pressure-exerting ring shaped as a circumferential annular collar on the end face thereof facing the valve unit when installed. When installed in the housing, the filter element, with an end face of the pressure-exerting ring, presses the valve membrane axially onto the valve plate. The valve membrane, with the membrane region thereof pressed by the pressure-exerting ring onto the valve plate, forms a seal separating the raw side from the clean side of the fluid filter.