diff --git a/examples/ffmpeg_recorder.rs b/examples/ffmpeg_recorder.rs
index c63057a..72474a3 100644
--- a/examples/ffmpeg_recorder.rs
+++ b/examples/ffmpeg_recorder.rs
@@ -380,6 +380,17 @@ static bool ffmpeg_init_config(struct ff_config_param *params,
         self.receive_and_write_packets(EncoderToWriteFrom::Audio);
         self.octx.write_trailer().unwrap();
     }
+
+    pub fn unserialize(&mut self, state: impl AsRef<Path>) -> Fallible<()> {
+        let path = state.as_ref();
+        let mut v = Vec::new();
+        if let Ok(mut f) = std::fs::File::open(path) {
+            if f.read_to_end(&mut v).is_ok(){
+                return self.retro.unserialize(v.as_ref());
+            }
+        }
+        Err(failure::err_msg("Couldn't read file to unserialize"))
+    }
 }
 
 impl retro::wrapper::Handler for MyEmulator {
@@ -511,6 +522,9 @@ struct Opt {
     /// Recorded video to write.
     #[structopt(short, long, parse(from_os_str))]
     video: PathBuf,
+    /// Save state to load at startup.
+    #[structopt(long, parse(from_os_str))]
+    state: Option<PathBuf>,
     /// System directory, often containing BIOS files
     #[structopt(short, long, parse(from_os_str))]
     system: Option<PathBuf>,
@@ -535,6 +549,10 @@ fn main() -> Fallible<()> {
 
     emu.frame_properties_locked = true;
 
+    if let Some(state) = opt.state {
+        emu.unserialize(state).unwrap();
+    }
+
     //for frame in 0..60*10 {
     for frame in 0..800 {
         eprintln!("🖼️ frame: {}", frame);
diff --git a/src/retro/loading.rs b/src/retro/loading.rs
index 552e458..a0da355 100644
--- a/src/retro/loading.rs
+++ b/src/retro/loading.rs
@@ -142,6 +142,12 @@ impl LibretroApi {
         }
     }
     pub fn unserialize(&self, data: &[u8]) -> Fallible<()> {
+        // validate size of the data
+        let size: usize = unsafe { (&self.core_api.retro_serialize_size)() };
+        if data.len() != size {
+            return Err(failure::err_msg(format!("Size of data {} doesn't match this core's expected size {}", data.len(), size)))
+        }
+
         if unsafe { (&self.core_api.retro_unserialize)(data.as_ptr() as *const c_void, data.len()) } {
             Ok(())
         } else {