diff --git a/src/GitVersion.Core/VersionConverters/AssemblyInfo/ProjectFileUpdater.cs b/src/GitVersion.Core/VersionConverters/AssemblyInfo/ProjectFileUpdater.cs
index 6824943a90..3670157dc1 100644
--- a/src/GitVersion.Core/VersionConverters/AssemblyInfo/ProjectFileUpdater.cs
+++ b/src/GitVersion.Core/VersionConverters/AssemblyInfo/ProjectFileUpdater.cs
@@ -47,7 +47,15 @@ public void Execute(VersionVariables variables, AssemblyInfoContext context)
             var localProjectFile = projectFile.FullName;
 
             var originalFileContents = this.fileSystem.ReadAllText(localProjectFile);
-            var fileXml = XElement.Parse(originalFileContents);
+            XElement fileXml;
+            try
+            {
+                fileXml = XElement.Parse(originalFileContents);
+            }
+            catch (XmlException e)
+            {
+                throw new XmlException($"Unable to parse file as xml: {localProjectFile}", e);
+            }
 
             if (!CanUpdateProjectFile(fileXml))
             {