diff --git a/src/de/impls.rs b/src/de/impls.rs
index b53e7ff..b7dfecc 100644
--- a/src/de/impls.rs
+++ b/src/de/impls.rs
@@ -172,10 +172,15 @@ impl Decode for usize {
             IntEncoding::Fixed => {
                 let mut bytes = [0u8; 8];
                 decoder.reader().read(&mut bytes)?;
-                Ok(match D::C::ENDIAN {
+
+                let value = match D::C::ENDIAN {
                     Endian::Little => u64::from_le_bytes(bytes),
                     Endian::Big => u64::from_be_bytes(bytes),
-                } as usize)
+                };
+
+                value
+                    .try_into()
+                    .map_err(|_| DecodeError::OutsideUsizeRange(value))
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/de/mod.rs b/src/de/mod.rs
index b107336..a25d372 100644
--- a/src/de/mod.rs
+++ b/src/de/mod.rs
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ pub trait Decoder: Sealed {
     /// # }
     /// impl<T: Decode> Decode for Container<T> {
     ///     fn decode<D: Decoder>(decoder: &mut D) -> Result<Self, DecodeError> {
-    ///         let len = u64::decode(decoder)? as usize;
+    ///         let len = u64::decode(decoder)?;
+    ///         let len: usize = len.try_into().map_err(|_| DecodeError::OutsideUsizeRange(len))?;
     ///         // Make sure we don't allocate too much memory
     ///         decoder.claim_bytes_read(len * core::mem::size_of::<T>());
     ///
@@ -236,5 +237,7 @@ pub(crate) fn decode_option_variant<D: Decoder>(
 /// Decodes the length of any slice, container, etc from the decoder
 #[inline]
 pub(crate) fn decode_slice_len<D: Decoder>(decoder: &mut D) -> Result<usize, DecodeError> {
-    u64::decode(decoder).map(|v| v as usize)
+    let v = u64::decode(decoder)?;
+
+    v.try_into().map_err(|_| DecodeError::OutsideUsizeRange(v))
 }
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 9262c41..17fee05 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -116,6 +116,14 @@ pub enum DecodeError {
         found: usize,
     },
 
+    /// The encoded value is outside of the range of the target usize type.
+    ///
+    /// This can happen if an usize was encoded on an architecture with a larger
+    /// usize type and then decoded on an architecture with a smaller one. For
+    /// example going from a 64 bit architecture to a 32 or 16 bit one may
+    /// cause this error.
+    OutsideUsizeRange(u64),
+
     /// Tried to decode an enum with no variants
     EmptyEnum {
         /// The type that was being decoded