diff --git a/src/RWStl/RWStl.cxx b/src/RWStl/RWStl.cxx
index 9672109f5c..0d053347b1 100644
--- a/src/RWStl/RWStl.cxx
+++ b/src/RWStl/RWStl.cxx
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ namespace
     //! Creates Poly_Triangulation from collected data
     Handle(Poly_Triangulation) GetTriangulation()
     {
+      if (myTriangles.IsEmpty())
+        return Handle(Poly_Triangulation)();
+
       Handle(Poly_Triangulation) aPoly = new Poly_Triangulation (myNodes.Length(), myTriangles.Length(), Standard_False);
       for (Standard_Integer aNodeIter = 0; aNodeIter < myNodes.Size(); ++aNodeIter)
       {
@@ -109,10 +112,9 @@ Handle(Poly_Triangulation) RWStl::ReadFile (const Standard_CString theFile,
                                             const Handle(Message_ProgressIndicator)& theProgress)
 {
   Reader aReader;
-  if (!aReader.Read (theFile, theProgress))
-  {
-    return Handle(Poly_Triangulation)();
-  }
+  aReader.Read (theFile, theProgress);
+  // note that returned bool value is ignored intentionally -- even if something went wrong,
+  // but some data have been read, we at least will return these data
   return aReader.GetTriangulation();
 }
 
@@ -209,10 +211,15 @@ Handle(Poly_Triangulation) RWStl::ReadAscii (const OSD_Path& theFile,
 //function : Write
 //purpose  :
 //=============================================================================
-Standard_Boolean RWStl::WriteBinary (const Handle(Poly_Triangulation)& aMesh,
+Standard_Boolean RWStl::WriteBinary (const Handle(Poly_Triangulation)& theMesh,
                                      const OSD_Path& thePath,
                                      const Handle(Message_ProgressIndicator)& theProgInd)
 {
+  if (theMesh.IsNull() || theMesh->NbTriangles() <= 0)
+  {
+    return Standard_False;
+  }
+
   TCollection_AsciiString aPath;
   thePath.SystemName (aPath);
 
@@ -222,7 +229,7 @@ Standard_Boolean RWStl::WriteBinary (const Handle(Poly_Triangulation)& aMesh,
     return Standard_False;
   }
 
-  Standard_Boolean isOK = writeBinary (aMesh, aFile, theProgInd);
+  Standard_Boolean isOK = writeBinary (theMesh, aFile, theProgInd);
 
   fclose (aFile);
   return isOK;
@@ -236,6 +243,11 @@ Standard_Boolean RWStl::WriteAscii (const Handle(Poly_Triangulation)& theMesh,
                                     const OSD_Path& thePath,
                                     const Handle(Message_ProgressIndicator)& theProgInd)
 {
+  if (theMesh.IsNull() || theMesh->NbTriangles() <= 0)
+  {
+    return Standard_False;
+  }
+
   TCollection_AsciiString aPath;
   thePath.SystemName (aPath);
 
diff --git a/src/RWStl/RWStl_Reader.cxx b/src/RWStl/RWStl_Reader.cxx
index ca2e28dcee..df2dfb92b5 100644
--- a/src/RWStl/RWStl_Reader.cxx
+++ b/src/RWStl/RWStl_Reader.cxx
@@ -138,9 +138,15 @@ Standard_Boolean RWStl_Reader::Read (const char* theFile,
   std::streampos theEnd = aStream.tellg();
   aStream.seekg (0, aStream.beg);
 
-  while (!aStream.eof() && !aStream.bad())
+  // binary STL files cannot be shorter than 134 bytes 
+  // (80 bytes header + 4 bytes facet count + 50 bytes for one facet);
+  // thus assume files shorter than 134 as Ascii without probing
+  // (probing may bring stream to fail state if EOF is reached)
+  bool isAscii = ((size_t)theEnd < THE_STL_MIN_FILE_SIZE || IsAscii (aStream));
+
+  while (aStream.good())
   {
-    if (IsAscii (aStream))
+    if (isAscii)
     {
       if (!ReadAscii (aStream, theEnd, theProgress))
       {
@@ -156,7 +162,7 @@ Standard_Boolean RWStl_Reader::Read (const char* theFile,
     }
     aStream >> std::ws; // skip any white spaces
   }
-  return !aStream.bad();
+  return ! aStream.fail();
 }
 
 //==============================================================================
@@ -169,10 +175,10 @@ Standard_Boolean RWStl_Reader::IsAscii (Standard_IStream& theStream)
   // read first 134 bytes to detect file format
   char aBuffer[THE_STL_MIN_FILE_SIZE];
   std::streamsize aNbRead = theStream.read (aBuffer, THE_STL_MIN_FILE_SIZE).gcount();
-  if (!theStream)
+  if (! theStream)
   {
     Message::DefaultMessenger()->Send ("Error: Cannot read file", Message_Fail);
-    return false;
+    return true;
   }
 
   // put back the read symbols
@@ -240,7 +246,8 @@ Standard_Boolean RWStl_Reader::ReadAscii (Standard_IStream& theStream,
   // use method seekpos() to get true 64-bit offset to enable
   // handling of large files (VS 2010 64-bit)
   const int64_t aStartPos = GETPOS(theStream.tellg());
-  const int64_t aEndPos = (theUntilPos > 0 ? GETPOS(theUntilPos) : std::numeric_limits<int64_t>::max());
+  // Note: 1 is added to theUntilPos to be sure to read the last symbol (relevant for files without EOL at the end)
+  const int64_t aEndPos = (theUntilPos > 0 ? 1 + GETPOS(theUntilPos) : std::numeric_limits<int64_t>::max());
 
   // skip header "solid ..."
   theStream.ignore (aEndPos - aStartPos, '\n');
diff --git a/src/StlAPI/StlAPI_Writer.cxx b/src/StlAPI/StlAPI_Writer.cxx
index 5defbc452b..57ac659561 100644
--- a/src/StlAPI/StlAPI_Writer.cxx
+++ b/src/StlAPI/StlAPI_Writer.cxx
@@ -49,8 +49,11 @@ Standard_Boolean StlAPI_Writer::Write (const TopoDS_Shape&    theShape,
   {
     TopLoc_Location aLoc;
     Handle(Poly_Triangulation) aTriangulation = BRep_Tool::Triangulation (TopoDS::Face (anExpSF.Current()), aLoc);
-    aNbNodes     += aTriangulation->NbNodes();
-    aNbTriangles += aTriangulation->NbTriangles();
+    if (! aTriangulation.IsNull())
+    {
+      aNbNodes += aTriangulation->NbNodes ();
+      aNbTriangles += aTriangulation->NbTriangles ();
+    }
   }
 
   // create temporary triangulation
diff --git a/tests/de_mesh/stl_read/D1 b/tests/de_mesh/stl_read/D1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2161e54e2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/de_mesh/stl_read/D1
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Check reading empty or small STL files"
+puts "#======================================================================\n"
+
+set minimal_ascii_stl {solid
+facet normal 0 0 1
+outer loop
+vertex 0 0 0
+vertex 1 0 0
+vertex 0 1 0
+endloop
+endfacet
+endsolid}
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Ascii file with single facet, CRLF"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_ascii_dos.stl w]
+fconfigure $fd -translation crlf
+puts $fd $minimal_ascii_stl
+close $fd
+readstl res_one_ascii_dos ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_ascii_dos.stl
+checknbshapes res_one_ascii_dos -face 1
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Ascii file with single facet, LF"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_ascii_unix.stl w]
+fconfigure $fd -translation lf
+puts $fd $minimal_ascii_stl
+close $fd
+readstl res_one_ascii_unix ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_ascii_unix.stl
+checknbshapes res_one_ascii_unix -face 1
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Ascii file with single facet, LF, no EOL at the last line"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_ascii_noeol.stl w]
+fconfigure $fd -translation lf
+puts -nonewline $fd $minimal_ascii_stl
+close $fd
+readstl res_one_ascii_noeol ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_ascii_noeol.stl
+checknbshapes res_one_ascii_noeol -face 1
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Ascii file with no facets, CRLF"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_zero_ascii_dos.stl w]
+fconfigure $fd -translation crlf
+puts $fd "solid \nendsolid"
+close $fd
+readstl res_zero_ascii_dos ${imagedir}/${casename}_zero_ascii_dos.stl
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Ascii file with no facets, LF"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_zero_ascii_unix.stl w]
+fconfigure $fd -translation lf
+puts $fd "solid \nendsolid"
+close $fd
+readstl res_zero_ascii_unix ${imagedir}/${casename}_zero_ascii_unix.stl
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Binary file with single facet"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_binary.stl w]
+fconfigure $fd -translation binary
+puts -nonewline $fd "stl [string repeat { } 76]"
+puts -nonewline $fd [binary format if3f3f3f3t 1 {0 0 1} {0 0 0} {1 0 0} {0 1 0} 0]
+close $fd
+readstl res_one_binary ${imagedir}/${casename}_one_binary.stl
+checknbshapes res_one_binary -face 1
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Binary file with no facets -- will be treated as Ascii and generate e r r o r"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+puts "REQUIRED ALL: Error: unexpected format of facet at line 2"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_zero_binary.stl w]
+fconfigure $fd -translation binary
+puts -nonewline $fd "stl [string repeat { } 76][binary format i 0]"
+close $fd
+readstl res_zero_binary ${imagedir}/${casename}_zero_binary.stl
+
+puts "\n#======================================================================"
+puts "# Empty file"
+puts "#======================================================================"
+puts "REQUIRED ALL: Error: unexpected format of facet at line 2"
+set fd [open ${imagedir}/${casename}_empty.stl w]
+close $fd
+readstl res_empty ${imagedir}/${casename}_empty.stl
+
diff --git a/tests/de_mesh/stl_read/end b/tests/de_mesh/stl_read/end
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2..0000000000