diff --git a/gguf-tools.c b/gguf-tools.c
index 0c73cfa..e0cbafc 100644
--- a/gguf-tools.c
+++ b/gguf-tools.c
@@ -376,13 +376,15 @@ void gguf_tools_inspect_weights(const char *filename, const char *tname, uint64_
 /* ========================== 'compare' subcommand ========================== */
 
 /* Given two tensors of the same length, return the average difference
- * of their weights. */
-double tensors_avg_diff(gguf_tensor *t1, gguf_tensor *t2) {
+ * of their weights. Returns 1 on success, 0 if one or both the provided
+ * tensors can't be dequantized. */
+int tensors_avg_diff(gguf_tensor *t1, gguf_tensor *t2, double *diff) {
     float *weights1 = gguf_tensor_to_float(t1);
     float *weights2 = gguf_tensor_to_float(t2);
     if (weights1 == NULL || weights2 == NULL) {
-        perror("Error while decoding tensor weights");
-        exit(1);
+        if (weights1) free(weights1);
+        if (weights2) free(weights2);
+        return 0;
     }
 
     double tot_diff = 0;
@@ -390,7 +392,8 @@ double tensors_avg_diff(gguf_tensor *t1, gguf_tensor *t2) {
         tot_diff += fabs(weights1[j]-weights2[j]);
     free(weights1);
     free(weights2);
-    return tot_diff/t1->num_weights;
+    *diff = tot_diff/t1->num_weights;
+    return 1;
 }
 
 void gguf_tools_compare(const char *file1, const char *file2) {
@@ -418,8 +421,12 @@ void gguf_tools_compare(const char *file1, const char *file2) {
                 if (tensor1.num_weights != tensor2.num_weights) {
                     printf("size mismatch\n");
                 } else {
-                    printf("avg weights difference: %f\n",
-                        tensors_avg_diff(&tensor1, &tensor2));
+                    double diff;
+                    if (tensors_avg_diff(&tensor1, &tensor2, &diff)) {
+                        printf("avg weights difference: %f\n", diff);
+                    } else {
+                        printf("dequantization function missing...\n");
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }