diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index c6f5c713e..1ccd642b9 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 	* fix uTP edge case where udp socket buffer fills up
 	* fix nagle implementation in uTP
 
+	* fix issue when loading certain malformed .torrent files
 	* pass along host header with http proxy requests and possible http_connection shutdown hang
 
 0.16.12 release
diff --git a/src/file.cpp b/src/file.cpp
index 4da0e751d..7682e45a4 100644
--- a/src/file.cpp
+++ b/src/file.cpp
@@ -409,16 +409,33 @@ namespace libtorrent
 
 	std::string extension(std::string const& f)
 	{
-		char const* ext = strrchr(f.c_str(), '.');
-		if (ext == 0) return "";
-		return ext;
+		for (int i = f.size() - 1; i >= 0; --i)
+		{
+			if (f[i] == '/') break;
+#ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
+			if (f[i] == '\\') break;
+#endif
+			if (f[i] != '.') continue;
+			return f.substr(i);
+		}
+		return "";
 	}
 
 	void replace_extension(std::string& f, std::string const& ext)
 	{
-		char const* e = strrchr(f.c_str(), '.');
-		if (e == 0) f += '.';
-		else f.resize(e - f.c_str() + 1);
+		for (int i = f.size() - 1; i >= 0; --i)
+		{
+			if (f[i] == '/') break;
+#ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
+			if (f[i] == '\\') break;
+#endif
+
+			if (f[i] != '.') continue;
+
+			f.resize(i);
+			break;
+		}
+		f += '.';
 		f += ext;
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/torrent_info.cpp b/src/torrent_info.cpp
index 078dddaa5..794d11db9 100644
--- a/src/torrent_info.cpp
+++ b/src/torrent_info.cpp
@@ -308,6 +308,8 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			if (p->list_at(i)->type() != lazy_entry::string_t)
 				return false;
 			std::string path_element = p->list_at(i)->string_value();
+			if (path_element.empty())
+				path_element = "_";
 			if (!valid_path_element(path_element)) continue;
 			if (i == end - 1) *filename = p->list_at(i);
 			trim_path_element(path_element);
diff --git a/test/test_file.cpp b/test/test_file.cpp
index d79b0124c..8b620a471 100644
--- a/test/test_file.cpp
+++ b/test/test_file.cpp
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ int test_main()
 	TEST_EQUAL(extension("blah.exe"), ".exe");
 	TEST_EQUAL(extension("blah.foo.bar"), ".bar");
 	TEST_EQUAL(extension("blah.foo."), ".");
+	TEST_EQUAL(extension("blah.foo/bar"), "");
 
 	TEST_EQUAL(filename("blah"), "blah");
 	TEST_EQUAL(filename("/blah/foo/bar"), "bar");
@@ -209,6 +210,15 @@ int test_main()
 	replace_extension(test, "txt");
 	TEST_EQUAL(test, "foo.txt");
 
+	test = "_";
+	replace_extension(test, "txt");
+	TEST_EQUAL(test, "_.txt");
+
+	test = "1.2.3/_";
+	replace_extension(test, "txt");
+	TEST_EQUAL(test, "1.2.3/_.txt");
+
+
 	// file class
 	file f;
 #if TORRENT_USE_UNC_PATHS || !defined WIN32
diff --git a/test/test_torrent_parse.cpp b/test/test_torrent_parse.cpp
index 7ae65b834..9b98f276a 100644
--- a/test/test_torrent_parse.cpp
+++ b/test/test_torrent_parse.cpp
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ test_torrent_t test_torrents[] =
 	{ "url_seed_multi_space.torrent" },
 	{ "url_seed_multi_space_nolist.torrent" },
 	{ "root_hash.torrent" },
+	{ "empty_path_multi.torrent" },
 };
 
 struct test_failing_torrent_t
diff --git a/test/test_torrents/empty_path_multi.torrent b/test/test_torrents/empty_path_multi.torrent
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59815da8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_torrents/empty_path_multi.torrent
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+d10:created by10:libtorrent13:creation datei1359599503e4:infod5:filesld6:lengthi425e4:pathl5:abcdeeed6:lengthi3e4:pathl0:eed6:lengthi5e4:pathl0:eee4:name4:temp12:piece lengthi16384e6:pieces20:‚ž¼Œ&¾ÇJW›}ÜA4u,·¼‘‡ee