diff --git a/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/main/java/org/datavec/image/loader/NativeImageLoader.java b/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/main/java/org/datavec/image/loader/NativeImageLoader.java
index 8f482846b..d2be87536 100644
--- a/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/main/java/org/datavec/image/loader/NativeImageLoader.java
+++ b/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/main/java/org/datavec/image/loader/NativeImageLoader.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.bytedeco.javacv.OpenCVFrameConverter;
 import org.datavec.image.data.Image;
 import org.datavec.image.data.ImageWritable;
 import org.datavec.image.transform.ImageTransform;
+import org.nd4j.base.Preconditions;
 import org.nd4j.linalg.api.concurrency.AffinityManager;
 import org.nd4j.linalg.api.memory.pointers.PagedPointer;
 import org.nd4j.linalg.api.ndarray.INDArray;
@@ -284,6 +285,9 @@ public class NativeImageLoader extends BaseImageLoader {
     private Mat streamToMat(InputStream is) throws IOException {
         if(buffer == null){
             buffer = IOUtils.toByteArray(is);
+            if(buffer.length <= 0){
+                throw new IOException("Could not decode image from input stream: input stream was empty (no data)");
+            }
             bufferMat = new Mat(buffer);
             return bufferMat;
         } else {
@@ -292,6 +296,10 @@ public class NativeImageLoader extends BaseImageLoader {
             //(a) if numRead < buffer.length - got everything
             //(b) if numRead >= buffer.length: we MIGHT have got everything (exact right size buffer) OR we need more data
 
+            if(numReadTotal <= 0){
+                throw new IOException("Could not decode image from input stream: input stream was empty (no data)");
+            }
+
             if(numReadTotal < buffer.length){
                 bufferMat.data().put(buffer, 0, numReadTotal);
                 bufferMat.cols(numReadTotal);
diff --git a/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/test/java/org/datavec/image/loader/TestNativeImageLoader.java b/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/test/java/org/datavec/image/loader/TestNativeImageLoader.java
index 544e46b77..5f634bab8 100644
--- a/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/test/java/org/datavec/image/loader/TestNativeImageLoader.java
+++ b/datavec/datavec-data/datavec-data-image/src/test/java/org/datavec/image/loader/TestNativeImageLoader.java
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ import org.bytedeco.javacv.Frame;
 import org.bytedeco.javacv.Java2DFrameConverter;
 import org.bytedeco.javacv.OpenCVFrameConverter;
 import org.datavec.image.data.ImageWritable;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.TemporaryFolder;
 import org.nd4j.linalg.api.buffer.DataType;
 import org.nd4j.linalg.api.ndarray.INDArray;
 import org.nd4j.linalg.factory.Nd4j;
@@ -55,6 +57,9 @@ public class TestNativeImageLoader {
     static final long seed = 10;
     static final Random rng = new Random(seed);
 
+    @Rule
+    public TemporaryFolder testDir = new TemporaryFolder();
+
     @Test
     public void testConvertPix() throws Exception {
         PIX pix;
@@ -554,4 +559,43 @@ public class TestNativeImageLoader {
         assertEquals(img1LargeBuffer, img1ExactBuffer);
     }
 
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNativeImageLoaderEmptyStreams() throws Exception {
+        File dir = testDir.newFolder();
+        File f = new File(dir, "myFile.jpg");
+        f.createNewFile();
+
+        NativeImageLoader nil = new NativeImageLoader(32, 32, 3);
+
+        try(InputStream is = new FileInputStream(f)){
+            nil.asMatrix(is);
+        } catch (IOException e){
+            String msg = e.getMessage();
+            assertTrue(msg, msg.contains("decode image"));
+        }
+
+        try(InputStream is = new FileInputStream(f)){
+            nil.asImageMatrix(is);
+        } catch (IOException e){
+            String msg = e.getMessage();
+            assertTrue(msg, msg.contains("decode image"));
+        }
+
+        try(InputStream is = new FileInputStream(f)){
+            nil.asRowVector(is);
+        } catch (IOException e){
+            String msg = e.getMessage();
+            assertTrue(msg, msg.contains("decode image"));
+        }
+
+        try(InputStream is = new FileInputStream(f)){
+            INDArray arr = Nd4j.create(DataType.FLOAT, 1, 3, 32, 32);
+            nil.asMatrixView(is, arr);
+        } catch (IOException e){
+            String msg = e.getMessage();
+            assertTrue(msg, msg.contains("decode image"));
+        }
+    }
+
 }