diff --git a/src/lib.zig b/src/lib.zig
index 56a869e..5325d27 100644
--- a/src/lib.zig
+++ b/src/lib.zig
@@ -512,6 +512,14 @@ pub fn deserialize(T: type, serialized: []const u8, out: *T, allocator: ?Allocat
                         try deserialize(ptr.child, serialized[i * pitch .. (i + 1) * pitch], &out.*[i], allocator);
                     }
                 } else {
+                    // Empty list of variable-size elements is encoded as zero bytes
+                    // (no offset table is needed when there are no elements).
+                    if (serialized.len == 0) {
+                        if (allocator) |alloc| {
+                            out.* = try alloc.alloc(ptr.child, 0);
+                        }
+                        return;
+                    }
                     // read the first index, determine when the "variable size" list ends,
                     // and determine the size of the item as a result.
                     if (serialized.len < 4) return error.OffsetExceedsSize;
diff --git a/src/tests.zig b/src/tests.zig
index 5379013..ab62840 100644
--- a/src/tests.zig
+++ b/src/tests.zig
@@ -2429,6 +2429,24 @@ test "deserialize struct: fixed-field read past buffer" {
     try expectError(error.OffsetExceedsSize, deserialize(S, &buf, &out, std.testing.allocator));
 }
 
+test "deserialize: empty list of variable-size elements" {
+    const S = struct {
+        items: [][]const u8,
+    };
+    const empty: [][]const u8 = &.{};
+    const original = S{ .items = empty };
+
+    var list: ArrayList(u8) = .empty;
+    defer list.deinit(std.testing.allocator);
+    try serialize(S, original, &list, std.testing.allocator);
+
+    var out: S = undefined;
+    try deserialize(S, list.items, &out, std.testing.allocator);
+    defer std.testing.allocator.free(out.items);
+
+    try expect(out.items.len == 0);
+}
+
 test "deserialize struct: nested variable container truncated in outer slice" {
     const Inner = struct {
         x: u32,