diff --git a/src/loaders/ttf/tvgTtfLoader.cpp b/src/loaders/ttf/tvgTtfLoader.cpp
index bd676068..6e59d736 100644
--- a/src/loaders/ttf/tvgTtfLoader.cpp
+++ b/src/loaders/ttf/tvgTtfLoader.cpp
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ bool TtfLoader::read(Shape* shape, char* text, FontMetrics& out)
 
     auto n = strlen(text);
     auto code = _codepoints(text, n);
+    if (!code) return false;
 
     //TODO: optimize with the texture-atlas?
     TtfGlyphMetrics gmetrics;