diff --git a/src/pocketmine/level/format/io/BaseLevelProvider.php b/src/pocketmine/level/format/io/BaseLevelProvider.php
index bf65f3d1a..4baf5eb8b 100644
--- a/src/pocketmine/level/format/io/BaseLevelProvider.php
+++ b/src/pocketmine/level/format/io/BaseLevelProvider.php
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ use function file_exists;
 use function file_get_contents;
 use function file_put_contents;
 use function mkdir;
+use function zlib_decode;
 
 abstract class BaseLevelProvider implements LevelProvider{
 	/** @var string */
@@ -53,8 +54,20 @@ abstract class BaseLevelProvider implements LevelProvider{
 	}
 
 	protected function loadLevelData() : void{
+		$compressedLevelData = @file_get_contents($this->getPath() . "level.dat");
+		if($compressedLevelData === false){
+			throw new LevelException("Failed to read level.dat (permission denied or doesn't exist)");
+		}
+		$rawLevelData = @zlib_decode($compressedLevelData);
+		if($rawLevelData === false){
+			throw new LevelException("Failed to decompress level.dat contents (probably corrupted)");
+		}
 		$nbt = new BigEndianNBTStream();
-		$levelData = $nbt->readCompressed(file_get_contents($this->getPath() . "level.dat"));
+		try{
+			$levelData = $nbt->read($rawLevelData);
+		}catch(\UnexpectedValueException $e){
+			throw new LevelException("Failed to decode level.dat (" . $e->getMessage() . ")", 0, $e);
+		}
 
 		if(!($levelData instanceof CompoundTag) or !$levelData->hasTag("Data", CompoundTag::class)){
 			throw new LevelException("Invalid level.dat");