diff --git a/src/cmd/pprof/internal/driver/driver.go b/src/cmd/pprof/internal/driver/driver.go
index 9703baf..acb29d1 100644
--- a/src/cmd/pprof/internal/driver/driver.go
+++ b/src/cmd/pprof/internal/driver/driver.go
@@ -1013,6 +1013,10 @@
 		w = outputFile
 	}
 
+	if prof.Empty() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("profile is empty")
+	}
+
 	value, stype, unit := sampleFormat(prof, f)
 	o.SampleType = stype
 	rpt := report.New(prof, *o, value, unit)
diff --git a/src/cmd/pprof/internal/profile/profile.go b/src/cmd/pprof/internal/profile/profile.go
index 7ee58ee..5eb641f 100644
--- a/src/cmd/pprof/internal/profile/profile.go
+++ b/src/cmd/pprof/internal/profile/profile.go
@@ -565,3 +565,8 @@
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+// Empty returns true if the profile contains no samples.
+func (p *Profile) Empty() bool {
+	return len(p.Sample) == 0
+}
diff --git a/src/cmd/pprof/internal/profile/profile_test.go b/src/cmd/pprof/internal/profile/profile_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09b11a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/pprof/internal/profile/profile_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+// Copyright 2015 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package profile
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestEmptyProfile(t *testing.T) {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	p, err := Parse(&buf)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("Want no error, got", err)
+	}
+	if p == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Want a valid profile, got <nil>")
+	}
+	if !p.Empty() {
+		t.Errorf("Profile should be empty, got %#v", p)
+	}
+}