diff --git a/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/decode.go b/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/decode.go
index a7c763e..eb75dfe 100644
--- a/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/decode.go
+++ b/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/decode.go
@@ -478,6 +478,9 @@ func (br *byteReader) decodeBitsFixedLength(v *BitSequence, bytesLength uint) (e
 	if _, err = br.Reader.Read(bb); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	if bytesLength == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
 	*v = make(BitSequence, bytesLength*8)
 	for i := range *v {
 		mod := i % 8
diff --git a/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/encode.go b/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/encode.go
index 8a22fa3..22fa877 100644
--- a/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/encode.go
+++ b/pkg/serialization/codec/jam/encode.go
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ func (bw *byteWriter) encodeBytes(b []byte) error {
 
 func (bw *byteWriter) encodeBits(bitSequence BitSequence) error {
 	length := len(bitSequence) / 8
-	if length%8 == 0 {
+	if length > 0 && length%8 == 0 {
 		length += 1
 	}
 	err := bw.encodeLength(length)