bumptech/glide · error · IllegalArgumentException

Must not be null or empty

Error message

Must not be null or empty

What it means

Thrown by Preconditions.checkNotEmpty(String) when the string is null or empty (TextUtils.isEmpty). This is Glide's internal null/empty guard used at the boundary of many APIs (URLs, keys, headers). Preconditions is not part of the public API surface but its exceptions surface to callers who pass bad string arguments to public methods that delegate to it.

Source

Thrown at library/src/main/java/com/bumptech/glide/util/Preconditions.java:41

  }

  @NonNull
  public static <T> T checkNotNull(@Nullable T arg) {
    return checkNotNull(arg, "Argument must not be null");
  }

  @NonNull
  public static <T> T checkNotNull(@Nullable T arg, @NonNull String message) {
    if (arg == null) {
      throw new NullPointerException(message);
    }
    return arg;
  }

  @NonNull
  public static String checkNotEmpty(@Nullable String string) {
    if (TextUtils.isEmpty(string)) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Must not be null or empty");
    }
    return string;
  }

  @NonNull
  public static <T extends Collection<Y>, Y> T checkNotEmpty(@NonNull T collection) {
    if (collection.isEmpty()) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Must not be empty.");
    }
    return collection;
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to eb14a895d8)

Solutions

1. Null/empty-check the string before calling Glide: if (!url.isNullOrEmpty()) Glide.with(ctx).load(url)...
2. Provide a fallback via .error(drawable) or skip the load entirely when the URL is missing
3. Annotate your own data fields @Nullable and handle both states explicitly
4. Use Kotlin's url?.let { Glide.with(ctx).load(it) } ?: showPlaceholder()

Example fix

// before
Glide.with(ctx).load(item.imageUrl).into(imageView) // imageUrl may be null/""

// after
if (!item.imageUrl.isNullOrEmpty()) {
  Glide.with(ctx).load(item.imageUrl).into(imageView)
} else {
  imageView.setImageResource(R.drawable.placeholder)
}

fun loadUrl(url: String?) {
  if (url.isNullOrEmpty()) {
    imageView.setImageResource(R.drawable.placeholder)
    return
  }
  Glide.with(ctx).load(url).into(imageView)
}

fun isValidModel(s: String?): Boolean = !s.isNullOrEmpty()

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a null or empty String where Glide requires a non-empty one: a null URL/key, an empty cache key override, an empty signature, an empty model string for asString().load().

Common situations: Loading from a nullable field (e.g. JSON-parsed URL) without a null check; an empty EditText URL submitted by the user; a data model whose image URL field is unset.

Related errors

• Must not be empty.
• sizeMultiplier must be between 0 and 1
• File unsuitable for memory mapping
• Multiplier must be >= 0
• sizeMultiplier must be between 0 and 1

AI-assisted analysis of bumptech/glide@eb14a895d8 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/323ef45845505fe3. Report an issue: GitHub.