diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Translation/Loader/JsonFileLoader.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Translation/Loader/JsonFileLoader.php
index 8327c63b57..09138835a6 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Translation/Loader/JsonFileLoader.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Translation/Loader/JsonFileLoader.php
@@ -35,10 +35,13 @@ class JsonFileLoader extends ArrayLoader implements LoaderInterface
             throw new NotFoundResourceException(sprintf('File "%s" not found.', $resource));
         }
 
-        $messages = json_decode(file_get_contents($resource), true);
+        $messages = array();
+        if ($data = file_get_contents($resource)) {
+            $messages = json_decode($data, true);
 
-        if (0 < $errorCode = json_last_error()) {
-            throw new InvalidResourceException(sprintf('Error parsing JSON - %s', $this->getJSONErrorMessage($errorCode)));
+            if (0 < $errorCode = json_last_error()) {
+                throw new InvalidResourceException(sprintf('Error parsing JSON - %s', $this->getJSONErrorMessage($errorCode)));
+            }
         }
 
         if (null === $messages) {