diff --git a/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherPublishTest.kt b/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherPublishTest.kt
index c670a67..aa7fd24 100644
--- a/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherPublishTest.kt
+++ b/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherPublishTest.kt
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ import java.io.OutputStream
 /** What a destination volume says when it fills up mid-write. */
 private const val NO_SPACE = "No space left on device"
 
+/** How far a failing copy gets before the volume "fills up". Any value below the payload does. */
+private const val PARTIAL_BYTES = 512
+
 /**
  * A sink that behaves like a volume filling up.
  *
@@ -75,6 +78,8 @@ class OutputPublisherPublishTest {
 
     private val payload = ByteArray(8192) { (it % 251).toByte() }
 
+    /** How far a failing copy gets before the volume "fills up". Any value below the payload does. */
+
     private val documentUri: Uri = Uri.parse("content://$DOCUMENTS_AUTHORITY/document/holiday.mp4")
     private val plainUri: Uri = Uri.parse("content://$PLAIN_AUTHORITY/document/holiday_plain.mp4")
     private val deadUri: Uri = Uri.parse("content://org.libremediaconverter.nonexistent/document/gone.mp4")
@@ -203,6 +208,50 @@ class OutputPublisherPublishTest {
         assertEquals(emptyList<Uri>(), FakeSafProvider.deleteRequests)
     }
 
+    @Test
+    fun `a destination whose size cannot be determined is never deleted`() {
+        // The three short-circuits in destinationIsKnownEmpty, and the reason its KDoc gives for
+        // each of them answering false:
+        //
+        //   "this decides whether a delete is allowed and 'I could not tell' must never authorise
+        //    one."
+        //
+        // The contrast is `a copy that fails partway leaves nothing at the destination` above: a
+        // provider that *does* say zero gets the delete. These say nothing, so they must not.
+        // Getting this backwards costs the user a file they already had, on a save that failed.
+        //
+        // Named exemption: of the three conjuncts, `size >= 0` cannot be falsified behaviourally.
+        // Measured -- getColumnIndex returns -1 for an absent column, and isNull(-1) throws
+        // CursorIndexOutOfBoundsException, which the surrounding runCatching already turns into
+        // `?: false`. So relaxing it to `size >= -1` leaves this test green: same answer, reached
+        // by the exception path instead. The guard should stay -- control flow through an exception
+        // is worse than a comparison, and another Cursor implementation need not throw -- but no
+        // assertion here pins it, and saying so beats implying the missing-column case covers it.
+        // `!row.isNull(size)` and `row.moveToFirst()` do both bite.
+        listOf(
+            RowShape.NO_SIZE_COLUMN to "a cursor with no SIZE column",
+            RowShape.NULL_SIZE to "a cursor whose SIZE cell is null",
+            RowShape.NO_ROWS to "a cursor holding no rows",
+        ).forEach { (shape, description) ->
+            FakeSafProvider.deleteRequests.clear()
+            FakeSafProvider.backingFile(documentUri).writeBytes(ByteArray(0))
+            FakeSafProvider.rowShape = shape
+            failMidCopy(documentUri, afterBytes = PARTIAL_BYTES)
+
+            assertThrows(IOException::class.java) { publisher.publish(staged, documentUri) }
+
+            assertEquals(
+                "$description must not authorise a delete",
+                emptyList<Uri>(),
+                FakeSafProvider.deleteRequests,
+            )
+            assertTrue(
+                "$description must leave the destination where it was",
+                FakeSafProvider.backingFile(documentUri).exists(),
+            )
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun `a copy that succeeds delivers every byte and deletes nothing`() {
         shadowOf(context.contentResolver).registerOutputStreamSupplier(documentUri) {
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherStagingTest.kt b/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherStagingTest.kt
index f778f5a..a1d2365 100644
--- a/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherStagingTest.kt
+++ b/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/OutputPublisherStagingTest.kt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package org.libremediaconverter.convert
 
 import org.junit.Assert.assertFalse
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNull
 import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
 import org.junit.Before
 import org.junit.Test
@@ -99,4 +100,29 @@ class OutputPublisherStagingTest {
 
         publisher.sweepStaging()
     }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the sweep tolerates a staging path that is not a directory`() {
+        // The other half of `listFiles() ?: return`, and not the same as the case above: a missing
+        // directory is created by `stagingDir`'s own mkdirs() and lists as empty. Only a path that
+        // cannot be a directory makes listFiles() answer null, and a sweep that dereferenced that
+        // would take the app down on a launch rather than on a conversion -- AppStartSweepTest is
+        // where this runs from.
+        File(cacheDir, "conversions").deleteRecursively()
+        File(cacheDir, "conversions").writeBytes(ByteArray(8))
+
+        publisher.sweepStaging()
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `discarding a file with no parent at all is refused`() {
+        // A relative name has no parent directory, so `staged.parentFile` is null. The handle
+        // reaches the ViewModel as a path string out of WorkInfo.outputData and is turned straight
+        // into a File, so this is not a shape the caller can rule out -- and the guard has to
+        // answer false rather than dereference it.
+        val parentless = File("holiday.mp4")
+        assertNull("the fixture is supposed to have no parent", parentless.parentFile)
+
+        assertFalse("a file with no parent is not in staging", publisher.discardStaged(parentless))
+    }
 }