diff --git a/tools/perf/util/header.c b/tools/perf/util/header.c
index ce69901176d8..c3e5a3b817ab 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/header.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/header.c
@@ -2768,6 +2768,18 @@ int perf_session__read_header(struct perf_session *session)
 	if (perf_file_header__read(&f_header, header, fd) < 0)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	/*
+	 * Sanity check that perf.data was written cleanly; data size is
+	 * initialized to 0 and updated only if the on_exit function is run.
+	 * If data size is still 0 then the file contains only partial
+	 * information.  Just warn user and process it as much as it can.
+	 */
+	if (f_header.data.size == 0) {
+		pr_warning("WARNING: The %s file's data size field is 0 which is unexpected.\n"
+			   "Was the 'perf record' command properly terminated?\n",
+			   session->filename);
+	}
+
 	nr_attrs = f_header.attrs.size / f_header.attr_size;
 	lseek(fd, f_header.attrs.offset, SEEK_SET);
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/session.c b/tools/perf/util/session.c
index 37c4718f6be1..568b750c01f6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/session.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/session.c
@@ -1312,7 +1312,7 @@ int __perf_session__process_events(struct perf_session *session,
 	file_offset = page_offset;
 	head = data_offset - page_offset;
 
-	if (data_offset + data_size < file_size)
+	if (data_size && (data_offset + data_size < file_size))
 		file_size = data_offset + data_size;
 
 	progress_next = file_size / 16;