diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index c59efc08645f..5c8ec2cf9cea 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -427,6 +427,9 @@ endif
 features += {'ppoll': cc.has_function('ppoll', args: '-D_GNU_SOURCE',
                                       prefix: '#include <poll.h>')}
 
+features += {'seek-data': cc.has_header_symbol('errno.h', 'ENXIO') and
+    cc.has_header_symbol('unistd.h', 'SEEK_DATA', args: '-D_GNU_SOURCE')}
+
 cd_devices = {
     'windows': 'D:',
     'cygwin': 'D:',
diff --git a/stream/stream_file.c b/stream/stream_file.c
index 89e7a2d9f109..e44357ef5ee1 100644
--- a/stream/stream_file.c
+++ b/stream/stream_file.c
@@ -332,6 +332,17 @@ static int open_f(stream_t *stream, const struct stream_open_args *args)
     setmode(p->fd, O_BINARY);
 #endif
 
+#if HAVE_SEEK_DATA
+    if (stream->mode == STREAM_READ) {
+        off_t first_data = lseek(p->fd, 0, SEEK_DATA);
+        if (first_data == (off_t)-1 && errno == ENXIO) {
+            MP_ERR(stream, "File is empty or all sparse (has no data).\n");
+            s_close(stream);
+            return STREAM_ERROR;
+        }
+    }
+#endif
+
     off_t len = lseek(p->fd, 0, SEEK_END);
     lseek(p->fd, 0, SEEK_SET);
     if (len != (off_t)-1) {