diff --git a/pysaliency/precomputed_models.py b/pysaliency/precomputed_models.py
index 69d1c7b..795e5b7 100644
--- a/pysaliency/precomputed_models.py
+++ b/pysaliency/precomputed_models.py
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ def get_stimuli_filenames(stimuli):
 
 def get_keys_from_filenames(filenames, keys):
     """checks how much filenames have to be shorted to get the correct hdf5 or other keys"""
+    if not filenames:
+        return []
+
     first_filename_parts = full_split(filenames[0])
     for part_index in range(len(first_filename_parts)):
         remaining_filename = os.path.join(*first_filename_parts[part_index:])
diff --git a/tests/test_precomputed_models.py b/tests/test_precomputed_models.py
index ce195ce..24e50e0 100644
--- a/tests/test_precomputed_models.py
+++ b/tests/test_precomputed_models.py
@@ -113,6 +113,16 @@ def test_hdf5_model_sub_stimuli(stimuli, sub_stimuli, tmpdir):
         np.testing.assert_allclose(model.log_density(s), model2.log_density(s))
 
 
+def test_hdf5_model_empty_stimuli(stimuli, tmpdir):
+    model = pysaliency.models.SaliencyMapNormalizingModel(TestSaliencyMapModel())
+    filename = str(tmpdir.join('model.hdf5'))
+    export_model_to_hdf5(model, stimuli, filename)
+
+    sub_stimuli = stimuli[[]]
+
+    pysaliency.HDF5Model(sub_stimuli, filename)
+
+
 def test_export_model_overwrite(file_stimuli, tmpdir):
     model1 = pysaliency.GaussianSaliencyMapModel(width=0.1)
     model2 = pysaliency.GaussianSaliencyMapModel(width=0.8)