diff --git a/Sourcecode/private/extern/ezxml/src/private/private/PugiDoc.cpp b/Sourcecode/private/extern/ezxml/src/private/private/PugiDoc.cpp
index 95522fdc5..de22ba2d2 100755
--- a/Sourcecode/private/extern/ezxml/src/private/private/PugiDoc.cpp
+++ b/Sourcecode/private/extern/ezxml/src/private/private/PugiDoc.cpp
@@ -38,54 +38,69 @@ namespace ezxml
             ss << "pugixml parsing failed - '";
             switch( parseResult.status )
             {
-                case pugi::status_file_not_found:ss << "status_file_not_found'";
+                case pugi::status_file_not_found:
+                    ss << "status_file_not_found'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_io_error:ss << "status_io_error'";
+                case pugi::status_io_error:
+                    ss << "status_io_error'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_out_of_memory:ss << "status_out_of_memory'";
+                case pugi::status_out_of_memory:
+                    ss << "status_out_of_memory'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_internal_error:ss << "status_internal_error'";
+                case pugi::status_internal_error:
+                    ss << "status_internal_error'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_unrecognized_tag:ss << "status_unrecognized_tag'";
+                case pugi::status_unrecognized_tag:
+                    ss << "status_unrecognized_tag'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_bad_pi:ss << "status_bad_pi'";
+                case pugi::status_bad_pi:
+                    ss << "status_bad_pi'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_bad_comment:ss << "status_bad_comment'";
+                case pugi::status_bad_comment:
+                    ss << "status_bad_comment'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_bad_cdata:ss << "status_bad_cdata'";
+                case pugi::status_bad_cdata:
+                    ss << "status_bad_cdata'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_bad_doctype:ss << "status_bad_doctype'";
+                case pugi::status_bad_doctype:
+                    ss << "status_bad_doctype'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_bad_pcdata:ss << "status_bad_pcdata'";
+                case pugi::status_bad_pcdata:
+                    ss << "status_bad_pcdata'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_bad_start_element:ss << "status_bad_start_element'";
+                case pugi::status_bad_start_element:
+                    ss << "status_bad_start_element'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_bad_attribute:ss << "status_bad_attribute'";
+                case pugi::status_bad_attribute:
+                    ss << "status_bad_attribute'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_end_element_mismatch:ss << "status_end_element_mismatch'";
+                case pugi::status_end_element_mismatch:
+                    ss << "status_end_element_mismatch'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_append_invalid_root:ss << "status_append_invalid_root'";
+                case pugi::status_append_invalid_root:
+                    ss << "status_append_invalid_root'";
                     break;
 
-                case pugi::status_no_document_element:ss << "status_no_document_element'";
+                case pugi::status_no_document_element:
+                    ss << "status_no_document_element'";
                     break;
 
                 default:break;
             }
-            ss << " - " << parseResult.description();
+
             EZXML_THROW( ss.str() );
         }
         else if( myDoc.begin() == myDoc.end() )
diff --git a/Sourcecode/private/mx/api/DocumentManager.cpp b/Sourcecode/private/mx/api/DocumentManager.cpp
index 46435e417..331e7c16c 100755
--- a/Sourcecode/private/mx/api/DocumentManager.cpp
+++ b/Sourcecode/private/mx/api/DocumentManager.cpp
@@ -57,7 +57,37 @@ namespace mx
         int DocumentManager::createFromFile( const std::string& filePath )
         {
             auto xdoc = ::ezxml::XFactory::makeXDoc();
-            xdoc->loadFile( filePath );
+
+            try
+            {
+                xdoc->loadFile( filePath );
+            }
+            catch ( std::exception& e )
+            {
+                const std::string originalMessage = e.what();
+
+                const auto fileExtension = []( const std::string& filePath )
+                {
+                    const auto dotPos = filePath.find_last_of( '.' );
+                    if( dotPos == std::string::npos || dotPos == filePath.size() - 1 )
+                    {
+                        return std::string{ "" };
+                    }
+
+                    return filePath.substr( dotPos + 1 );
+                };
+
+                if ( ( originalMessage.find( "status_no_document_element" ) != std::string::npos) &&
+                     fileExtension( filePath ) == "mxl" )
+                {
+                    std::stringstream ss;
+                    ss << "it looks like you are trying to parse a compressed musicxml file, which is currently "
+                    << "unsupported. https://github.com/webern/mx/issues/66 ("
+                    << originalMessage << ")";
+                    MX_THROW( ss.str() );
+                }
+            }
+
             auto mxdoc = mx::core::makeDocument();
             std::stringstream messages;
             auto isSuccess = mxdoc->fromXDoc( messages, *xdoc );
diff --git a/Sourcecode/private/mxtest/api/MxlTest.cpp b/Sourcecode/private/mxtest/api/MxlTest.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d292bbe28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Sourcecode/private/mxtest/api/MxlTest.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+// MusicXML Class Library
+// Copyright (c) by Matthew James Briggs
+// Distributed under the MIT License
+
+#include "cpul/cpulTestHarness.h"
+#include "mx/api/DocumentManager.h"
+#include "mxtest/file/MxFileRepository.h"
+#include <sstream>
+
+namespace mxtest
+{
+    static constexpr const char* const EXPECTED_MXL_ERROR_MESSAGE =
+        "it looks like you are trying to parse a compressed musicxml file, which is currently unsupported.";
+}
+
+
+TEST( Mxl, TemporaryNoCrashTest )
+{
+    const auto filepath = mxtest::MxFileRepository::getFullPath( "Dichterliebe01.mxl" );
+    auto& docMgr = mx::api::DocumentManager::getInstance();
+    std::string actualMessage;
+    const std::string expectedMessage = mxtest::EXPECTED_MXL_ERROR_MESSAGE;
+    bool isExceptionThrown = false;
+
+    try
+    {
+        docMgr.createFromFile( filepath );
+    }
+    catch ( std::exception& e )
+    {
+        isExceptionThrown = true;
+        actualMessage = e.what();
+    }
+
+    if( !isExceptionThrown )
+    {
+        FAIL( "an exception was expected during docMgr.createFromFile( filepath ); but none was thrown" );
+    }
+
+    const auto isFound = actualMessage.find( expectedMessage ) != std::string::npos;
+
+    if( !isFound )
+    {
+        std::stringstream failure;
+        failure << "expected to find the string '" << expectedMessage << "' in the error message '"
+        << actualMessage << "' but did not.";
+        FAIL( failure.str() );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/Sourcecode/private/mxtest/import/ExpectedFiles.cpp b/Sourcecode/private/mxtest/import/ExpectedFiles.cpp
index fc3860afd..00f1b749d 100755
--- a/Sourcecode/private/mxtest/import/ExpectedFiles.cpp
+++ b/Sourcecode/private/mxtest/import/ExpectedFiles.cpp
@@ -143,10 +143,6 @@ namespace mxtest
         openInputFile( inputFile, fullPath );
         auto xdoc = ::ezxml::XFactory::makeXDoc();
         xdoc->loadStream( inputFile );
-//        std::stringstream ss;
-//        xdoc->saveStream( ss );
-//        std::cout << ss.str() << std::endl;
-//        inputFile.close();
         return xdoc;
     }
     
@@ -315,7 +311,7 @@ namespace mxtest
             q.push_front( std::move( fut ) );
         }
         
-        while( q.size() > 0 )
+        while( q.empty() )
         {
             for( auto qIter = q.begin(); qIter != q.end(); ++qIter )
             {