diff --git a/src/client.cpp b/src/client.cpp
index 178552a4..d1489186 100644
--- a/src/client.cpp
+++ b/src/client.cpp
@@ -207,8 +207,8 @@ auto waybar::Client::setupCss(const std::string& css_file) -> void {
   }
 
   css_provider_ = Gtk::CssProvider::create();
-  if (has_8bit_hex(css_file)) {
-    std::string modified_css = transform_8bit_to_hex(css_file);
+  auto [modified_css, was_transformed] = transform_8bit_to_hex(css_file);
+  if (was_transformed) {
     css_provider_->load_from_data(modified_css);
   } else {
     if (!css_provider_->load_from_path(css_file)) {
diff --git a/src/util/transform_8bit_to_rgba.cpp b/src/util/transform_8bit_to_rgba.cpp
index 4e0cd3a8..ca95784d 100644
--- a/src/util/transform_8bit_to_rgba.cpp
+++ b/src/util/transform_8bit_to_rgba.cpp
@@ -4,21 +4,40 @@
 #include <regex>
 #include <sstream>
 namespace fs = std::filesystem;
-std::string transform_8bit_to_hex(std::string file_path) {
+
+struct TransformResult {
+  std::string css;
+  bool was_transformed;
+};
+
+TransformResult transform_8bit_to_hex(const std::string& file_path) {
   std::ifstream f(file_path, std::ios::in | std::ios::binary);
   const auto size = fs::file_size(file_path);
   std::string result(size, '\0');
+  if (!f.is_open() || !f.good()) {
+    throw std::runtime_error("Cannot open file: " + file_path);
+  }
+
+  if (size == 0) {
+    return {.css = result, .was_transformed = false};
+  }
+
   f.read(result.data(), size);
 
-  std::regex pattern(
-      R"((?:\#([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})))");
+  static std::regex pattern(
+      R"((\#([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})))");
   std::string final_output;
 
   auto it = std::sregex_iterator(result.begin(), result.end(), pattern);
   auto eof = std::sregex_iterator();
-  std::smatch match = *it;
 
+  if (it == eof) {
+    return {.css = result, .was_transformed = false};
+  }
+
+  std::smatch match;
   while (it != eof) {
+    match = *it;
 
     final_output += match.prefix().str();
 
@@ -28,8 +47,8 @@ std::string transform_8bit_to_hex(std::string file_path) {
     double a = (stoi(match[4].str(), nullptr, 16) / 255.0);
 
     std::stringstream ss;
-    ss << "rgba(" << r << "," << g << "," << b << "," << std::fixed
-       << std::setprecision(2) << a << ")";
+    ss << "rgba(" << r << "," << g << "," << b << "," << std::fixed << std::setprecision(2) << a
+       << ")";
     final_output += ss.str();
 
     ++it;
@@ -37,5 +56,5 @@ std::string transform_8bit_to_hex(std::string file_path) {
 
   final_output += match.suffix().str();
 
-  return final_output;
+  return {.css = final_output, .was_transformed = true};
 }