diff --git a/include/libdbc/dbc.hpp b/include/libdbc/dbc.hpp
index 2dfe7bf..5e0e9e4 100644
--- a/include/libdbc/dbc.hpp
+++ b/include/libdbc/dbc.hpp
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ class Parser {
 	virtual ~Parser() = default;
 
 	virtual void parse_file(const std::string& file) = 0;
+	virtual void parse_file(std::istream& file) = 0;
 
 protected:
 };
@@ -23,7 +24,8 @@ class DbcParser : public Parser {
 public:
 	DbcParser();
 
-	void parse_file(const std::string& file) override;
+	void parse_file(const std::string& file_name) override;
+	void parse_file(std::istream& stream) override;
 
 	std::string get_version() const;
 	std::vector<std::string> get_nodes() const;
diff --git a/src/dbc.cpp b/src/dbc.cpp
index 108ab7e..c6baae5 100644
--- a/src/dbc.cpp
+++ b/src/dbc.cpp
@@ -70,18 +70,12 @@ DbcParser::DbcParser()
 			  + whiteSpace + receiverPattern) {
 }
 
-void DbcParser::parse_file(const std::string& file) {
-	std::ifstream stream(file.c_str());
+void DbcParser::parse_file(std::istream& stream) {
 	std::string line;
 	std::vector<std::string> lines;
 
 	messages.clear();
 
-	auto extension = get_extension(file);
-	if (extension != ".dbc") {
-		throw NonDbcFileFormatError(file, extension);
-	}
-
 	parse_dbc_header(stream);
 	parse_dbc_nodes(stream);
 
@@ -93,6 +87,17 @@ void DbcParser::parse_file(const std::string& file) {
 	parse_dbc_messages(lines);
 }
 
+void DbcParser::parse_file(const std::string& file_name) {
+	auto extension = get_extension(file_name);
+	if (extension != ".dbc") {
+		throw NonDbcFileFormatError(file_name, extension);
+	}
+
+	std::ifstream stream(file_name.c_str());
+
+	parse_file(stream);
+}
+
 std::string DbcParser::get_extension(const std::string& file_name) {
 	std::size_t dot = file_name.find_last_of(".");
 	if (dot != std::string::npos) {
diff --git a/test/single_header_testing/test_single_header.cpp b/test/single_header_testing/test_single_header.cpp
index e4abc6c..c512d35 100644
--- a/test/single_header_testing/test_single_header.cpp
+++ b/test/single_header_testing/test_single_header.cpp
@@ -54,3 +54,27 @@ TEST_CASE("Testing  big endian, little endian") {
 		REQUIRE(signal.is_bigendian == false);
 	}
 }
+
+TEST_CASE("Testing file stream mirrors the filename interface") {
+	std::string dbc_contents = PRIMITIVE_DBC + R"(BO_ 234 MSG1: 8 Vector__XXX
+ SG_ Sig1 : 55|16@0- (0.1,0) [-3276.8|-3276.7] "C" Vector__XXX
+ SG_ Sig2 : 39|16@1- (0.1,0) [-3276.8|-3276.7] "C" Vector__XXX)";
+	const auto filename = create_temporary_dbc_with(dbc_contents.c_str());
+	std::ifstream file(filename.c_str());
+
+	auto parser = Libdbc::DbcParser();
+	parser.parse_file(file);
+
+	REQUIRE(parser.get_messages().size() == 1);
+	REQUIRE(parser.get_messages().at(0).name() == "MSG1");
+	REQUIRE(parser.get_messages().at(0).size() == 8);
+	REQUIRE(parser.get_messages().at(0).get_signals().size() == 2);
+	{
+		const auto signal = parser.get_messages().at(0).get_signals().at(0);
+		REQUIRE(signal.is_bigendian == true);
+	}
+	{
+		const auto signal = parser.get_messages().at(0).get_signals().at(1);
+		REQUIRE(signal.is_bigendian == false);
+	}
+}