diff --git a/src/error.cpp b/src/error.cpp
index 1ce9a0f3fe..0cbfa4c4a1 100644
--- a/src/error.cpp
+++ b/src/error.cpp
@@ -52,8 +52,11 @@ Error::Error(LAMMPS *lmp) : Pointers(lmp) {
 void Error::universe_all(const std::string &file, int line, const std::string &str)
 {
   MPI_Barrier(universe->uworld);
-  std::string mesg = fmt::format("ERROR: {} ({}:{})\n",
-                                 str,truncpath(file),line);
+  std::string mesg = "ERROR: " + str;
+  try {
+    mesg += fmt::format(" ({}:{})\n",truncpath(file),line);
+  } catch (fmt::format_error &e) {
+  }
   if (universe->me == 0) {
     if (universe->uscreen)  fputs(mesg.c_str(),universe->uscreen);
     if (universe->ulogfile) fputs(mesg.c_str(),universe->ulogfile);
@@ -135,9 +138,14 @@ void Error::all(const std::string &file, int line, const std::string &str)
   MPI_Comm_rank(world,&me);
 
   if (me == 0) {
+    std::string mesg = "ERROR: " + str;
     if (input && input->line) lastcmd = input->line;
-    utils::logmesg(lmp,fmt::format("ERROR: {} ({}:{})\nLast command: {}\n",
-                                   str,truncpath(file),line,lastcmd));
+    try {
+      mesg += fmt::format(" ({}:{})\nLast command: {}\n",
+                          truncpath(file),line,lastcmd);
+    } catch (fmt::format_error &e) {
+    }
+    utils::logmesg(lmp,mesg);
   }
 
 #ifdef LAMMPS_EXCEPTIONS
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 582de6999c..8e8e1ee3b0 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     MPI_Barrier(MPI_COMM_WORLD);
     MPI_Finalize();
     exit(1);
+  } catch(fmt::format_error &fe) {
+    fprintf(stderr,"fmt::format_error: %s\n", fe.what());
+    MPI_Abort(MPI_COMM_WORLD, 1);
+    exit(1);
   }
 #else
   LAMMPS *lammps = new LAMMPS(argc,argv,MPI_COMM_WORLD);