diff --git a/examples/lightfield_bitstream_parsing.c b/examples/lightfield_bitstream_parsing.c
index 989a678..5d2c79c 100644
--- a/examples/lightfield_bitstream_parsing.c
+++ b/examples/lightfield_bitstream_parsing.c
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@
   printf("Reading tile list from file.\n");
   char line[1024];
   FILE *tile_list_fptr = fopen(tile_list_file, "r");
+  if (!tile_list_fptr) die_codec(&codec, "Failed to open tile list file.");
   int num_tiles = 0;
   TILE_LIST_INFO tiles[MAX_TILES];
   while ((fgets(line, 1024, tile_list_fptr)) != NULL) {