diff --git a/lib/image-stream/handlers.js b/lib/image-stream/handlers.js
index 1f209bae..3e19827f 100644
--- a/lib/image-stream/handlers.js
+++ b/lib/image-stream/handlers.js
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ const udif = Bluebird.promisifyAll(require('udif'));
 const archive = require('./archive');
 const zipArchiveHooks = require('./archive-hooks/zip');
 const fileExtensions = require('../shared/file-extensions');
+const path = require('path');
+const errors = require('../shared/errors');
 
 /**
  * @summary Image handlers
@@ -161,6 +163,16 @@ module.exports = {
         },
         transform: new PassThroughStream()
       };
+    }).catch((error) => {
+      if (/invalid footer/i.test(error.message)) {
+        throw errors.createUserError({
+          title: 'Invalid image',
+          description: `There was an error reading "${path.basename(file)}". `
+            + 'The image does not appear to be a valid Apple Disk Image (dmg), or may have the wrong filename extension.\n\n'
+            + `Error: ${error.description || error.message}`
+        });
+      }
+      throw error;
     });
   },
 
diff --git a/tests/image-stream/data/unrecognized/invalid.dmg b/tests/image-stream/data/unrecognized/invalid.dmg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bc70eab5
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/image-stream/data/unrecognized/invalid.dmg differ
diff --git a/tests/image-stream/dmg.spec.js b/tests/image-stream/dmg.spec.js
index e0c30123..938f3008 100644
--- a/tests/image-stream/dmg.spec.js
+++ b/tests/image-stream/dmg.spec.js
@@ -105,4 +105,14 @@ describe('ImageStream: DMG', function() {
 
   });
 
+  context('invalid', function() {
+
+    describe('given an invalid dmg file', function() {
+      tester.expectError(
+        path.join(DATA_PATH, 'unrecognized', 'invalid.dmg'),
+        'Invalid image', 'Invalid footer');
+    });
+
+  });
+
 });
diff --git a/tests/image-stream/tester.js b/tests/image-stream/tester.js
index d8f2949e..dd654273 100644
--- a/tests/image-stream/tester.js
+++ b/tests/image-stream/tester.js
@@ -43,11 +43,14 @@ const deleteIfExists = (file) => {
   });
 };
 
-exports.expectError = function(file, errorMessage) {
+exports.expectError = function(file, errorMessage, errorDetail) {
   it('should be rejected with an error', function() {
     return imageStream.getFromFilePath(file).catch((error) => {
       m.chai.expect(error).to.be.an.instanceof(Error);
       m.chai.expect(error.message).to.equal(errorMessage);
+      if (errorDetail) {
+        m.chai.expect(error.description).to.contain(errorDetail);
+      }
       m.chai.expect(error.description).to.be.a.string;
       m.chai.expect(error.description.length > 0).to.be.true;
     });