diff --git a/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c b/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
index b5978e84..37bffe2c 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
@@ -179,6 +179,8 @@
  * 	- page > 0 could break edge tiles or strips
  * 26/4/18
  * 	- add n-pages metadata item
+ * 21/7/18
+ * 	- check for non-byte-multiple bits_per_sample [HongxuChen]
  */
 
 /*
@@ -544,6 +546,21 @@ rtiff_check_min_samples( Rtiff *rtiff, int samples_per_pixel )
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
+/* Only allow samples which are whole bytes in size.  
+ */
+static int
+rtiff_non_fractional( Rtiff *rtiff )
+{
+	if( rtiff->header.bits_per_sample % 8 != 0 ||
+		rtiff->header.bits_per_sample == 0 ) {
+		vips_error( "tiff2vips", "%s", _( "samples_per_pixel "
+			"not a whole number of bytes" ) );
+		return( -1 );
+	}
+
+	return( 0 );
+}
+
 static int
 rtiff_check_interpretation( Rtiff *rtiff, int photometric_interpretation )
 {
@@ -811,7 +828,8 @@ rtiff_parse_onebit( Rtiff *rtiff, VipsImage *out )
 /* Per-scanline process function for greyscale images.
  */
 static void
-rtiff_greyscale_line( Rtiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, void *client )
+rtiff_greyscale_line( Rtiff *rtiff, 
+	VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, void *client )
 {
 	int samples_per_pixel = rtiff->header.samples_per_pixel;
 	int photometric_interpretation = 
@@ -862,7 +880,8 @@ rtiff_greyscale_line( Rtiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, void *client
 static int
 rtiff_parse_greyscale( Rtiff *rtiff, VipsImage *out )
 {
-	if( rtiff_check_min_samples( rtiff, 1 ) )
+	if( rtiff_check_min_samples( rtiff, 1 ) ||
+		rtiff_non_fractional( rtiff ) )
 		return( -1 );
 
 	out->Bands = rtiff->header.samples_per_pixel; 
@@ -1144,6 +1163,9 @@ rtiff_parse_copy( Rtiff *rtiff, VipsImage *out )
 	int photometric_interpretation = 
 		rtiff->header.photometric_interpretation;
 
+	if( rtiff_non_fractional( rtiff ) )
+		return( -1 );
+
 	out->Bands = samples_per_pixel; 
 	out->BandFmt = rtiff_guess_format( rtiff );
 	if( out->BandFmt == VIPS_FORMAT_NOTSET )
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c b/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c
index 665c38ff..81992337 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c
@@ -840,10 +840,6 @@ build_xml_meta( VipsMeta *meta, VipsDbuf *dbuf )
 
 		g_value_unset( &save_value );
 	}
-	else {
-		printf( "unable to convert %s for save\n", 
-				g_type_name( type ) );
-	}
 
 	return( NULL );
 }