diff --git a/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb b/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
index b0a20626..d7f56de5 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/blob_helper.rb
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ module Linguist
       if defined?(@data) && @data.is_a?(String)
         data = @data
       else
-        data = lambda { binary_mime_type? ? "" : self.data }
+        data = lambda { (binary_mime_type? || binary?) ? "" : self.data }
       end
 
       @language = Language.detect(name.to_s, data, mode)
diff --git a/lib/linguist/language.rb b/lib/linguist/language.rb
index fb242041..a6b199c6 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/language.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/language.rb
@@ -84,7 +84,9 @@ module Linguist
 
       if possible_languages.length > 1
         data = data.call() if data.respond_to?(:call)
-        if result = Classifier.classify(Samples::DATA, data, possible_languages.map(&:name)).first
+        if data.nil? || data == ""
+          nil
+        elsif result = Classifier.classify(Samples::DATA, data, possible_languages.map(&:name)).first
           Language[result[0]]
         end
       else