diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImporter.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImporter.java
index 6219bbc59..5900de6fb 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImporter.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImporter.java
@@ -317,11 +317,16 @@ public class XmlImporter extends TreeImportingParserBase {
         return factory.createXMLStreamReader(wrapPrefixRemovingInputStream(inputStream));
     }
     
-    final static private InputStream wrapPrefixRemovingInputStream(InputStream inputStream) throws IOException {
+    final static private InputStream wrapPrefixRemovingInputStream(InputStream inputStream)
+            throws XMLStreamException, IOException {
         PushbackInputStream pis = new PushbackInputStream(inputStream);
         int b;
-        while ((b = pis.read()) >= 0) {
-            if (b == '<') {
+        int count = 0;
+        while (count < 100 && (b = pis.read()) >= 0) {
+            if (++count > 100) {
+                throw new XMLStreamException(
+                    "File starts with too much non-XML content to skip over");
+            } else if (b == '<') {
                 pis.unread(b);
                 break;
             }