diff --git a/lib/big-xml.js b/lib/big-xml.js
index 07472fa..3ad2f8b 100644
--- a/lib/big-xml.js
+++ b/lib/big-xml.js
@@ -17,8 +17,15 @@ function BigXmlReader(filename, recordRegEx, options) {
   var parser = new expat.Parser('UTF-8');
   var stream = typeof filename === "string" ? fs.createReadStream(filename) : filename;
   
+  stream.on('error', function(err) {
+    self.emit('error', new Error(err));
+  });
+    
   if (options.gzip) {
     var gunzip = zlib.createGunzip();
+    gunzip.on('error', function(err) {
+      self.emit('error', new Error(err));
+    });
     stream.pipe(gunzip);
     stream = gunzip;
   }
@@ -31,10 +38,6 @@ function BigXmlReader(filename, recordRegEx, options) {
     }
   });
 
-  stream.on('error', function(err) {
-    self.emit('error', new Error(err));
-  });
-  
   ///////////////////////////
 
   var node = {};