diff --git a/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp b/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp
index 5120f5c59..14da690a2 100644
--- a/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp
+++ b/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp
@@ -178,7 +178,16 @@ void ContentUnitLoader<DefT>::loadUnit(
 ) {
     auto folder = pack.folder;
     auto configFile = folder / (defsDir + "/" + name + ".json");
-    if (io::exists(configFile)) loadUnit(def, full, configFile);
+    if (io::exists(configFile)) {
+        try {
+            loadUnit(def, full, configFile);
+        } catch (const std::runtime_error& err) {
+            throw std::runtime_error(
+                "file " + util::quote(configFile.string()) + ": " +
+                std::string(err.what())
+            );
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 void ContentLoader::loadBlockMaterial(
diff --git a/src/io/io.cpp b/src/io/io.cpp
index 2f4eab11c..638108587 100644
--- a/src/io/io.cpp
+++ b/src/io/io.cpp
@@ -173,8 +173,12 @@ bool io::write_binary_json(
 }
 
 dv::value io::read_json(const path& filename) {
-    std::string text = io::read_string(filename);
-    return json::parse(filename.string(), text);
+    auto text = io::read_string(filename);
+    try {
+        return json::parse(filename.string(), text);
+    } catch (const parsing_error& err) {
+        throw err.toRuntimeError();
+    }
 }
 
 dv::value io::read_binary_json(const path& file) {
@@ -184,7 +188,12 @@ dv::value io::read_binary_json(const path& file) {
 }
 
 dv::value io::read_toml(const path& file) {
-    return toml::parse(file.string(), io::read_string(file));
+    auto text = io::read_string(file);
+    try {
+        return toml::parse(file.string(), text);
+    } catch (const parsing_error& err) {
+        throw err.toRuntimeError();
+    }
 }
 
 std::vector<std::string> io::read_list(const io::path& filename) {