diff --git a/flow/record/base.py b/flow/record/base.py
index 7b574ee4..44740e80 100644
--- a/flow/record/base.py
+++ b/flow/record/base.py
@@ -893,6 +893,8 @@ def RecordAdapter(
                             "entering record text, rather than a record stream? This can be fixed by using "
                             "'rdump -w -' to write a record stream to stdout."
                         )
+                    if not peek_data:
+                        raise EOFError("Empty input stream")
                     raise RecordAdapterNotFound("Could not find adapter for file-like object")
 
             # Now that we found an adapter, we will fall back into the same code path as when a URL is given. As the url
diff --git a/flow/record/stream.py b/flow/record/stream.py
index 07892238..0fae0fb1 100644
--- a/flow/record/stream.py
+++ b/flow/record/stream.py
@@ -164,11 +164,13 @@ def record_stream(sources: list[str], selector: str | None = None) -> Iterator[R
             print("[reading from stdin]", file=sys.stderr)
 
         # Initial value for reader, in case of exception message
-        reader = "RecordReader"
+        reader: str | AbstractReader = "RecordReader"
         try:
             reader = RecordReader(src, selector=selector)
             yield from reader
-            reader.close()
+        except EOFError as e:
+            # End of file reached, likely no records in source
+            log.warning("%s(%r): %s", reader, src, e)
         except IOError as e:
             if len(sources) == 1:
                 raise
@@ -184,6 +186,9 @@ def record_stream(sources: list[str], selector: str | None = None) -> Iterator[R
             else:
                 log.warning("Exception in %r for %r: %s -- skipping to next reader", reader, src, aRepr.repr(e))
                 continue
+        finally:
+            if isinstance(reader, AbstractReader):
+                reader.close()
 
 
 class PathTemplateWriter:
diff --git a/tests/record/test_adapter.py b/tests/record/test_adapter.py
index a11c8470..6d49d311 100644
--- a/tests/record/test_adapter.py
+++ b/tests/record/test_adapter.py
@@ -499,3 +499,11 @@ def test_file_like_writer_reader() -> None:
     assert len(read_records) == 10
     for idx, record in enumerate(read_records):
         assert record == test_records[idx]
+
+
+def test_empty_stdin(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    # Mock stdin to be empty
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", BytesIO(b""))
+
+    with pytest.raises(EOFError, match="Empty input stream"):
+        RecordAdapter()
diff --git a/tests/tools/test_rdump.py b/tests/tools/test_rdump.py
index 0877a25e..9f4df6b9 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_rdump.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_rdump.py
@@ -797,3 +797,76 @@ def test_rdump_catch_sigpipe(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     assert "test/record count=0" in stdout
     assert "test/record count=1" in stdout
     assert len(stdout.splitlines()) == 2
+
+
+def test_rdump_empty_records_pipe(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """Test that rdump handles empty records as input gracefully."""
+
+    # create an empty records file
+    path = tmp_path / "empty.records"
+    with RecordWriter(path):
+        pass
+
+    # although the records file is empty, it should exist and have a RECORDSTREAM header
+    assert path.exists()
+    assert b"RECORDSTREAM" in path.read_bytes()
+
+    # rdump empty.records | rdump -l
+    p1 = subprocess.Popen(["rdump", str(path)], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+    p2 = subprocess.Popen(
+        ["rdump", "-l"],
+        stdin=p1.stdout,
+        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+    )
+    stdout, stderr = p2.communicate()
+    assert p2.returncode == 0
+    assert b"RecordReader('-'): Empty input stream" in stderr
+    assert b"Processed 0 records (matched=0, unmatched=0)" in stdout
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "stdin_bytes",
+    [
+        b"",
+        None,
+    ],
+)
+def test_rdump_empty_stdin_pipe(stdin_bytes: bytes | None) -> None:
+    """Test that rdump handles empty stdin as input gracefully."""
+
+    # rdump -l (with empty stdin)
+    pipe = subprocess.Popen(
+        ["rdump", "-l"],
+        stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+    )
+    stdout, stderr = pipe.communicate(input=None)
+    assert pipe.returncode == 0
+    assert b"RecordReader('-'): Empty input stream" in stderr
+    assert b"Processed 0 records (matched=0, unmatched=0)" in stdout
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "stdin_bytes",
+    [
+        b"\n",
+        b"this is not a valid record stream",
+        b"RANDOMDATA",
+    ],
+)
+def test_rdump_invalid_stdin_pipe(stdin_bytes: bytes) -> None:
+    """Test that rdump handles invalid stdin as an error"""
+
+    # rdump -l (with invalid stdin)
+    pipe = subprocess.Popen(
+        ["rdump", "-l"],
+        stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+    )
+    stdout, stderr = pipe.communicate(input=stdin_bytes)
+    assert pipe.returncode == 1, "rdump should exit with error code 1 on invalid input"
+    assert b"rdump encountered a fatal error: Could not find adapter for file-like object" in stderr
+    assert b"Processed 0 records (matched=0, unmatched=0)" in stdout