diff --git a/src/jv_parse.c b/src/jv_parse.c
index 519c2047f2..74ea7530a9 100644
--- a/src/jv_parse.c
+++ b/src/jv_parse.c
@@ -514,6 +514,8 @@ static pfunc check_literal(struct jv_parser* p) {
   case 'f': pattern = "false"; plen = 5; v = jv_false(); break;
   case '\'':
     return "Invalid string literal; expected \", but got '";
+  case 0x1e:
+    return "Record Separator (RS) detected, this might be application/json-seq. Try using the --seq option.";
   case 'n':
     // if it starts with 'n', it could be a literal "nan"
     if (p->tokenbuf[1] == 'u') {
diff --git a/tests/jq.test b/tests/jq.test
index 404994e268..6f2a88a395 100644
--- a/tests/jq.test
+++ b/tests/jq.test
@@ -2191,6 +2191,10 @@ try fromjson catch .
 "{'a': 123}"
 "Invalid string literal; expected \", but got ' at line 1, column 5 (while parsing '{'a': 123}')"
 
+try fromjson catch .
+"\u001e{\"a\": 123}"
+"Record Separator (RS) detected, this might be application/json-seq. Try using the --seq option. at line 1, column 2 (while parsing '\u001e{\"a\": 123}')"
+
 # ltrimstr/1 rtrimstr/1 don't leak on invalid input #2977
 
 try ltrimstr(1) catch "x", try rtrimstr(1) catch "x" | "ok"