diff --git a/releasenotes.md b/releasenotes.md
index 1f62b0d98..51efb089e 100644
--- a/releasenotes.md
+++ b/releasenotes.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 - Cast removing arbitrary array indices and converting them to pointers should always be fine #1664
 - Incorrect "no-libc" definition of `cos`, making it unavailable for wasm.
 - Fix issue with the adjoint and inverse calculations for `Matrix2x2`.
+- It was possible to create 0 length arrays using byte literals. #1678
 
 ### Stdlib changes
 - Add `io::MultiReader`, `io::MultiWriter`, and `io::TeeReader` structs.
diff --git a/src/compiler/parse_expr.c b/src/compiler/parse_expr.c
index b78a4b126..a00890add 100644
--- a/src/compiler/parse_expr.c
+++ b/src/compiler/parse_expr.c
@@ -1751,6 +1751,11 @@ static Expr *parse_bytes_expr(ParseContext *c, Expr *left)
 		len = new_len;
 		advance(c);
 	}
+	if (len == 0)
+	{
+		PRINT_ERROR_LAST("A byte array must be at least 1 byte long. While an array cannot be zero length, you can initialize a zero length slice using '{}'.");
+		return poisoned_expr;
+	}
 	Expr *expr_bytes = EXPR_NEW_TOKEN(EXPR_CONST);
 	expr_bytes->const_expr.bytes.ptr = data;
 	expr_bytes->const_expr.bytes.len = len;
diff --git a/src/compiler/types.c b/src/compiler/types.c
index 5a13c55a9..cb1a697dd 100644
--- a/src/compiler/types.c
+++ b/src/compiler/types.c
@@ -1154,6 +1154,7 @@ static Type *type_create_array(Type *element_type, ArraySize len, bool vector, b
 
 Type *type_get_array(Type *arr_type, ArraySize len)
 {
+	ASSERT(len > 0, "Created a zero length array");
 	ASSERT0(type_is_valid_for_array(arr_type));
 	return type_create_array(arr_type, len, false, false);
 }
diff --git a/test/test_suite/constants/empty_byte_literal.c3 b/test/test_suite/constants/empty_byte_literal.c3
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f2de965cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_suite/constants/empty_byte_literal.c3
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import std;
+
+fn void main()
+{
+	char[] cd = {};
+    char[*] b = x""; // #error: must be at least 1 byte
+    io::printfn("%d", b.len);
+}
\ No newline at end of file