diff --git a/java/src/main/java/tech/sourced/enry/GoUtils.java b/java/src/main/java/tech/sourced/enry/GoUtils.java
index 3deb6f44..4168aca1 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/tech/sourced/enry/GoUtils.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/tech/sourced/enry/GoUtils.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ static String[] toJavaStringArray(GoSlice slice) {
     static GoSlice.ByValue toGoByteSlice(byte[] bytes) {
         int length = 0;
         Pointer ptr = null;
-        if (bytes != null) {
+        if (bytes != null && bytes.length > 0) {
             length = bytes.length;
             ptr = ptrFromBytes(bytes);
         }
diff --git a/java/src/test/java/tech/sourced/enry/EnryTest.java b/java/src/test/java/tech/sourced/enry/EnryTest.java
index 0b599c58..9a1a4539 100644
--- a/java/src/test/java/tech/sourced/enry/EnryTest.java
+++ b/java/src/test/java/tech/sourced/enry/EnryTest.java
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ public void getLanguageWithNullContent() {
         assertEquals("Python", Enry.getLanguage("foo.py",  null));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void getLanguageWithEmptyContent() {
+        assertEquals("Go", Enry.getLanguage("baz.go",  "".getBytes()));
+        assertEquals("Go", Enry.getLanguage("baz.go",  null));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void getLanguageWithNullFilename() {
         byte[] content = "#!/usr/bin/env python".getBytes();