diff --git a/docs/erlang-beam.md b/docs/erlang-beam.md
index 6317dd2f92..f2528c2652 100644
--- a/docs/erlang-beam.md
+++ b/docs/erlang-beam.md
@@ -37,9 +37,15 @@ When `AtU8` or `Atom` is present, `atoms` is the 1-based name table and
 those names when the table is present; unresolved indices keep `function` or
 `module` null.
 
+A zero-byte `AtU8` chunk does not override a nonempty historical `Atom` table.
+The chunk inventory retains both occurrences. A nonempty malformed `AtU8`
+still fails instead of falling back to an older table.
+
 `code` reports the Code chunk instruction-set, opcode maximum, label count,
 function count, and the instruction stream's file range. Missing optional
-tables are null, not empty-everywhere.
+tables are null, not empty-everywhere. A zero-byte optional `FunT` has no decoded
+lambda table (`lambdas: null`); a four-byte zero count is an observed empty table
+(`lambdas: []`). Both chunks remain in the inventory.
 
 ## Limits and failures
 
diff --git a/src/erlang/BeamParser.test.ts b/src/erlang/BeamParser.test.ts
index 5051e52590..bd1f3fe4cd 100644
--- a/src/erlang/BeamParser.test.ts
+++ b/src/erlang/BeamParser.test.ts
@@ -243,6 +243,52 @@ it("keeps a latin1 atom byte unchanged", () => {
   expect(report.module).toBe("ÿ");
 });
 
+it("uses a nonempty legacy atom table when the selected AtU8 chunk is empty", () => {
+  const legacy = singleChunkBeam("Atom", Buffer.from([0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0xff]));
+  const empty = singleChunkBeam("AtU8", Buffer.alloc(0));
+  for (const chunks of [
+    [legacy, empty],
+    [empty, legacy],
+  ]) {
+    const bytes = Buffer.concat([chunks[0]!, chunks[1]!.subarray(12)]);
+    bytes.writeUInt32BE(bytes.length - 8, 4);
+    expect(parse(bytes)).toMatchObject({
+      atom_encoding: "latin1",
+      module: "ÿ",
+      chunks: expect.arrayContaining([
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          name: "AtU8",
+          payload: expect.objectContaining({ bytes: 0 }),
+        }),
+      ]),
+    });
+  }
+});
+
+it("retains empty optional FunT chunks without discarding compiler module facts", () => {
+  const original = erlangBeamOtp29Fixture();
+  const control = parse(original);
+  for (const payload of [Buffer.alloc(0), Buffer.alloc(4), Buffer.alloc(1)]) {
+    const bytes = Buffer.concat([
+      original,
+      singleChunkBeam("FunT", payload).subarray(12),
+    ]);
+    bytes.writeUInt32BE(bytes.length - 8, 4);
+    if (payload.length === 1) {
+      expect(() => parse(bytes)).toThrow(/lambda table is truncated/);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const report = parse(bytes);
+    expect(report.module).toBe(control.module);
+    expect(report.exports).toEqual(control.exports);
+    expect(report.lambdas).toEqual(payload.length === 0 ? null : []);
+    expect(report.chunks.at(-1)).toMatchObject({
+      name: "FunT",
+      payload: { bytes: payload.length },
+    });
+  }
+});
+
 it("rejects combined table rows before allocating them", () => {
   const below = Math.floor(MAX_INSPECT_ERLANG_BEAM_TABLE_ROWS / 2);
   const overflow = MAX_INSPECT_ERLANG_BEAM_TABLE_ROWS - below * 2 + 1;
diff --git a/src/erlang/BeamParser.ts b/src/erlang/BeamParser.ts
index 47c52d8995..3a60727547 100644
--- a/src/erlang/BeamParser.ts
+++ b/src/erlang/BeamParser.ts
@@ -256,12 +256,18 @@ export const parseErlangBeam = (
     payloads.set(name, { payload, offset: at });
     at = padded;
   }
-  const atomChunk = payloads.get("AtU8") ?? payloads.get("Atom");
-  const atomEncoding = payloads.has("AtU8")
-    ? "utf8"
-    : payloads.has("Atom")
-      ? "latin1"
-      : null;
+  const utf8Atoms = payloads.get("AtU8");
+  const legacyAtoms = payloads.get("Atom");
+  const useLegacyAtoms =
+    (utf8Atoms?.payload.length ?? 0) === 0 &&
+    (legacyAtoms?.payload.length ?? 0) > 0;
+  const atomChunk = useLegacyAtoms ? legacyAtoms : (utf8Atoms ?? legacyAtoms);
+  const atomEncoding =
+    atomChunk === undefined
+      ? null
+      : useLegacyAtoms || utf8Atoms === undefined
+        ? "latin1"
+        : "utf8";
   const atoms =
     atomChunk === undefined || atomEncoding === null
       ? null
@@ -300,10 +306,11 @@ export const parseErlangBeam = (
           function: atomAt(atoms, row[1]!),
           arity: row[2]!,
         }));
+  const lambdaPayload = payloads.get("FunT")?.payload;
   const lambdas =
-    payloads.get("FunT") === undefined
+    lambdaPayload === undefined || lambdaPayload.length === 0
       ? null
-      : parseRows(payloads.get("FunT")!.payload, 6, "lambda").map((row) => ({
+      : parseRows(lambdaPayload, 6, "lambda").map((row) => ({
           function_index: row[0]!,
           function: atomAt(atoms, row[0]!),
           arity: row[1]!,