diff --git a/toml/parser.hpp b/toml/parser.hpp
index 9f31be8..5dbef6c 100644
--- a/toml/parser.hpp
+++ b/toml/parser.hpp
@@ -1949,6 +1949,11 @@ parse(std::istream& is, const std::string& fname = "unknown file")
     std::vector<char> letters(static_cast<std::size_t>(fsize));
     is.read(letters.data(), fsize);
 
+    if(letters.back() == '\0')
+    {
+        letters.pop_back();
+    }
+
     detail::location<std::vector<char>>
         loc(std::move(fname), std::move(letters));