diff --git a/AudioFile.h b/AudioFile.h
index a9f26c6..b5d2e9b 100644
--- a/AudioFile.h
+++ b/AudioFile.h
@@ -458,9 +458,25 @@ bool AudioFile<T>::load (std::string filePath)
         return false;
     }
     
-    file.unsetf (std::ios::skipws);
-    std::istream_iterator<uint8_t> begin (file), end;
-    std::vector<uint8_t> fileData (begin, end);
+    std::vector<uint8_t> fileData;
+
+	file.unsetf (std::ios::skipws);
+
+	file.seekg (0, std::ios::end);
+	size_t length = file.tellg();
+	file.seekg (0, std::ios::beg);
+
+	// allocate
+	fileData.resize (length);
+
+	file.read(reinterpret_cast<char*> (fileData.data()), length);
+	file.close();
+
+	if (file.gcount() != length)
+	{
+		reportError ("ERROR: Couldn't read entire file\n" + filePath);
+		return false;
+	}
     
     // get audio file format
     audioFileFormat = determineAudioFileFormat (fileData);
@@ -564,6 +580,12 @@ bool AudioFile<T>::decodeWaveFile (std::vector<uint8_t>& fileData)
         {
             int sampleIndex = samplesStartIndex + (numBytesPerBlock * i) + channel * numBytesPerSample;
             
+            if ((sampleIndex + (bitDepth / 8) - 1) >= fileData.size())
+            {
+                reportError ("ERROR: read file error as the metadata indicates more samples than there are in the file data");
+                return false;
+            }
+            
             if (bitDepth == 8)
             {
                 T sample = singleByteToSample (fileData[sampleIndex]);
@@ -702,6 +724,12 @@ bool AudioFile<T>::decodeAiffFile (std::vector<uint8_t>& fileData)
         {
             int sampleIndex = samplesStartIndex + (numBytesPerFrame * i) + channel * numBytesPerSample;
             
+            if ((sampleIndex + (bitDepth / 8) - 1) >= fileData.size())
+            {
+                reportError ("ERROR: read file error as the metadata indicates more samples than there are in the file data");
+                return false;
+            }
+            
             if (bitDepth == 8)
             {
                 int8_t sampleAsSigned8Bit = (int8_t)fileData[sampleIndex];
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4d7b825..d43c0c7 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #===============================================================================
 cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.12)
 
-project ("AudioFile" VERSION 1.0.8
+project ("AudioFile" VERSION 1.0.9
                      DESCRIPTION "A simple C++ library for reading and writing audio files."
                      HOMEPAGE_URL "https://github.com/adamstark/AudioFile")
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ab1843c..8b4d6bd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # AudioFile
 
 <!-- Version and License Badges -->
-![Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-1.0.8-green.svg?style=flat-square) 
+![Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-1.0.9-green.svg?style=flat-square) 
 ![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPL-blue.svg?style=flat-square) 
 ![Language](https://img.shields.io/badge/language-C++-yellow.svg?style=flat-square) 
 
@@ -156,6 +156,11 @@ If you prefer not to see these messages, you can disable this error logging beha
 Versions
 -------
 
+##### 1.0.9 - 23rd January 2021
+
+- Faster loading of audio files
+- Bug fixes
+
 ##### 1.0.8 - 18th October 2020
 
 - CMake support
@@ -198,6 +203,7 @@ Contributions
 * Read/write of iXML data chunks ([mynameisjohn](https://github.com/mynameisjohn))
 * Remove warnings ([Abhinav1997](https://github.com/Abhinav1997))
 * Better support on Ubuntu ([BenjaminHinchliff](https://github.com/BenjaminHinchliff))
+* Faster loading of audio files ([helloimmatt](https://github.com/helloimmatt/))
 
 Want to Contribute?
 -------