diff --git a/src/Valuestore.php b/src/Valuestore.php
index 62a5aae..9f2189d 100644
--- a/src/Valuestore.php
+++ b/src/Valuestore.php
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ public function all() : array
             return [];
         }
 
-        return json_decode(file_get_contents($this->fileName), true);
+        return json_decode(file_get_contents($this->fileName), true) ?? [];
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/ValuestoreTest.php b/tests/ValuestoreTest.php
index 32a8e63..270d223 100644
--- a/tests/ValuestoreTest.php
+++ b/tests/ValuestoreTest.php
@@ -438,4 +438,20 @@ public function it_will_delete_the_underlying_file_when_no_values_are_left_in_th
 
         $this->assertFileNotExists($this->storageFile);
     }
+
+    /** @test */
+    public function the_all_function_will_always_return_an_array()
+    {
+        $this->assertFileNotExists($this->storageFile);
+
+        touch($this->storageFile);
+
+        $this->assertStringEqualsFile($this->storageFile, '');
+
+        $this->assertIsArray($this->valuestore->all());
+
+        $this->valuestore->flush();
+
+        $this->assertFileNotExists($this->storageFile);
+    }
 }