diff --git a/+bids/File.m b/+bids/File.m
index 223e086c..8bae6e34 100644
--- a/+bids/File.m
+++ b/+bids/File.m
@@ -209,7 +209,11 @@
           obj.path = args.Results.input;
         end
         f_struct = bids.internal.parse_filename(args.Results.input);
-        obj.modality = obj.get_modality(f_struct.entities);
+
+        obj.modality = '';
+        if isfield(f_struct, 'entities')
+          obj.modality = obj.get_modality(f_struct.entities);
+        end
       elseif isstruct(args.Results.input)
         f_struct = args.Results.input;
       end
diff --git a/tests/test_bids_file.m b/tests/test_bids_file.m
index 7e57b5a0..72a91147 100644
--- a/tests/test_bids_file.m
+++ b/tests/test_bids_file.m
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@
 
 end
 
+function test_no_entity
+
+  bf = bids.File(fullfile(pwd, 'con_0001.niii'));
+
+end
+
 function test_participants
 
   pth_bids_example = get_test_data_dir();