diff --git a/headers.js b/headers.js
index 5ea4333..42f8c6a 100644
--- a/headers.js
+++ b/headers.js
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ var encodeOct = function(val, n) {
 };
 
 var decodeOct = function(val, offset) {
+	// Older versions of tar can prefix with spaces
+	while (val[offset] === 32) offset += 1;
+
 	return parseInt(val.slice(offset, clamp(indexOf(val, 32, offset, val.length), val.length, val.length)).toString(), 8);
 };
 
diff --git a/test/extract.js b/test/extract.js
index 27c6310..e758b27 100644
--- a/test/extract.js
+++ b/test/extract.js
@@ -417,4 +417,21 @@ test('invalid-file', function(t) {
 	});
 
 	extract.end(fs.readFileSync(fixtures.INVALID_TGZ));
-});
\ No newline at end of file
+});
+
+test('space prefixed', function(t) {
+	t.plan(5);
+
+	var extract = tar.extract();
+
+	extract.on('entry', function(header, stream, callback) {
+		t.ok(true)
+		callback();
+	});
+
+	extract.on('finish', function() {
+		t.ok(true);
+	});
+
+	extract.end(fs.readFileSync(fixtures.SPACE_TAR_GZ));
+});
diff --git a/test/fixtures/index.js b/test/fixtures/index.js
index 59bc87b..0c4b283 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/index.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/index.js
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@ exports.LONG_NAME_TAR = path.join(__dirname, 'long-name.tar');
 exports.UNICODE_BSD_TAR = path.join(__dirname, 'unicode-bsd.tar');
 exports.UNICODE_TAR = path.join(__dirname, 'unicode.tar');
 exports.NAME_IS_100_TAR = path.join(__dirname, 'name-is-100.tar');
-exports.INVALID_TGZ = path.join(__dirname, 'invalid.tgz');
\ No newline at end of file
+exports.INVALID_TGZ = path.join(__dirname, 'invalid.tgz');
+exports.SPACE_TAR_GZ = path.join(__dirname, 'space.tar');
diff --git a/test/fixtures/space.tar b/test/fixtures/space.tar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0bd7cea
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/space.tar differ