diff --git a/renderdoc/core/remote_server.cpp b/renderdoc/core/remote_server.cpp
index b667def20..db8e446b4 100644
--- a/renderdoc/core/remote_server.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/core/remote_server.cpp
@@ -1497,11 +1497,20 @@ void RemoteServer::CopyCaptureFromRemote(const char *remotepath, const char *loc
 
 rdcstr RemoteServer::CopyCaptureToRemote(const char *filename, RENDERDOC_ProgressCallback progress)
 {
+  FILE *fileHandle = FileIO::fopen(filename, "rb");
+
+  if(!fileHandle)
+  {
+    RDCERR("Can't open file '%s'", filename);
+    return "";
+  }
+
   {
     WRITE_DATA_SCOPE();
     SCOPED_SERIALISE_CHUNK(eRemoteServer_CopyCaptureToRemote);
 
-    StreamReader fileStream(FileIO::fopen(filename, "rb"));
+    // this will take ownership of and close the file
+    StreamReader fileStream(fileHandle);
     ser.SerialiseStream(filename, fileStream, progress);
   }
 
diff --git a/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.cpp b/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.cpp
index 9789cebd4..9782aa864 100644
--- a/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/serialise/streamio.cpp
@@ -504,6 +504,13 @@ void StreamTransfer(StreamWriter *writer, StreamReader *reader, RENDERDOC_Progre
 {
   uint64_t totalSize = reader->GetSize();
 
+  if(totalSize == 0)
+  {
+    if(progress)
+      progress(1.0f);
+    return;
+  }
+
   // copy 1MB at a time
   const uint64_t StreamIOChunkSize = 1024 * 1024;