diff --git a/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/src/resolvers/unixfs-v1/index.ts b/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/src/resolvers/unixfs-v1/index.ts
index 0e2250f3..55588bcc 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/src/resolvers/unixfs-v1/index.ts
+++ b/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/src/resolvers/unixfs-v1/index.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,15 @@ const unixFsResolver: Resolver = async (cid, name, path, toResolve, resolve, dep
   }
 
   const block = await toBuffer(blockstore.get(cid, options))
-  const node = decode(block)
+  let node: PBNode
+
+  try {
+    node = decode(block)
+  } catch (err: any) {
+    // badly formatted or invalid protobuf
+    throw new NotUnixFSError(err.message)
+  }
+
   let unixfs
   let next
 
diff --git a/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/test/exporter.spec.ts b/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/test/exporter.spec.ts
index f915b6c1..58c09caf 100644
--- a/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/test/exporter.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/ipfs-unixfs-exporter/test/exporter.spec.ts
@@ -1737,4 +1737,14 @@ describe('exporter', () => {
     expect(basicfile).to.not.have.property('unixfs')
     expect(basicfile).to.not.have.property('content')
   })
+
+  it('should throw NotUnixFSError when data is not parseable', async () => {
+    const buf = uint8ArrayFromString('i am not a protobuf')
+    const mh = await sha256.digest(buf)
+    const cid = CID.createV1(dagPb.code, mh)
+    await block.put(cid, buf)
+
+    await expect(exporter(cid, block)).to.eventually.be.rejected
+      .with.property('name', 'NotUnixFSError')
+  })
 })