diff --git a/panda/src/downloader/decompressor.cxx b/panda/src/downloader/decompressor.cxx
index 9b42ec1791..be65a173d6 100644
--- a/panda/src/downloader/decompressor.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/downloader/decompressor.cxx
@@ -261,6 +261,12 @@ decompress(Filename &source_file, Filename &dest_file) {
   // Determine source file length
   read_stream.seekg(0, ios::end);
   int source_file_length = read_stream.tellg();
+  if (source_file_length == 0) {
+    downloader_cat.warning()
+      << "Decompressor::decompress() - Zero length file: "
+      << source_file << endl;
+    return true;
+  }
   read_stream.seekg(0, ios::beg);
 
   // Open destination file 
diff --git a/panda/src/downloadertools/pcompress.cxx b/panda/src/downloadertools/pcompress.cxx
index e377ef2144..0540fbe804 100644
--- a/panda/src/downloadertools/pcompress.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/downloadertools/pcompress.cxx
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   int source_file_length = read_stream.tellg();
   read_stream.seekg(0, ios::beg);
 
+  if (source_file_length == 0) {
+    cerr << "zero length file: " << source_file << endl;
+    return 1;
+  }
+
   // Open destination file
   ofstream write_stream;
   dest_file.set_binary();