diff --git a/plugins/text-freetype2/text-freetype2.c b/plugins/text-freetype2/text-freetype2.c
index 176c07158d8f68881b634c65ceb35bda498ba3df..39ab5682f29be595099e6e717728faa3a1829172 100644
--- a/plugins/text-freetype2/text-freetype2.c
+++ b/plugins/text-freetype2/text-freetype2.c
@@ -360,28 +360,37 @@ static void ft2_source_update(void *data, obs_data_t *settings)
 
 	if (srcdata->font_face)
 		cache_standard_glyphs(srcdata);
-skip_font_load:;
+
+skip_font_load:
 	if (from_file) {
 		const char *tmp = obs_data_get_string(settings, "text_file");
-		if (!tmp || !*tmp) {
-			blog(LOG_WARNING,
-				"FT2-text: Failed to open %s for reading", tmp);
-			goto error;
-		}
 
-		if (srcdata->text_file != NULL &&
-		    strcmp(srcdata->text_file, tmp) == 0 &&
-		    !vbuf_needs_update)
-			goto error;
+		if (!tmp || !*tmp || !os_file_exists(tmp)) {
+			const char *emptystr = " ";
 
-		bfree(srcdata->text_file);
+			bfree(srcdata->text);
+			srcdata->text = NULL;
 
-		srcdata->text_file = bstrdup(tmp);
-		if (chat_log_mode)
-			read_from_end(srcdata, tmp);
-		else
-			load_text_from_file(srcdata, tmp);
-		srcdata->last_checked = os_gettime_ns();
+			os_utf8_to_wcs_ptr(emptystr, strlen(emptystr),
+					&srcdata->text);
+			blog(LOG_WARNING, "FT2-text: Failed to open %s for "
+			                  "reading", tmp);
+		}
+		else {
+			if (srcdata->text_file != NULL &&
+				strcmp(srcdata->text_file, tmp) == 0 &&
+				!vbuf_needs_update)
+				goto error;
+
+			bfree(srcdata->text_file);
+
+			srcdata->text_file = bstrdup(tmp);
+			if (chat_log_mode)
+				read_from_end(srcdata, tmp);
+			else
+				load_text_from_file(srcdata, tmp);
+			srcdata->last_checked = os_gettime_ns();
+		}
 	}
 	else {
 		const char *tmp = obs_data_get_string(settings, "text");