diff --git a/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/services/JPEGTurboServiceImpl.java b/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/services/JPEGTurboServiceImpl.java
index 49f82deff58..3231da2686b 100644
--- a/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/services/JPEGTurboServiceImpl.java
+++ b/components/formats-bsd/src/loci/formats/services/JPEGTurboServiceImpl.java
@@ -105,8 +105,10 @@ public JPEGTurboServiceImpl() {
     logger = Logger.getLogger(NATIVE_LIB_CLASS);
     logger.setLevel(Level.SEVERE);
     if (!libraryLoaded) {
-      NativeLibraryUtil.loadNativeLibrary(TJ.class, "turbojpeg");
-      libraryLoaded = true;
+      libraryLoaded = NativeLibraryUtil.loadNativeLibrary(TJ.class, "turbojpeg");
+      if (!libraryLoaded) {
+        throw new RuntimeException("TurboJPEG could not be loaded");
+      }
     }
   }