diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.test.ts
index 85cbc37c758..4a33ec28c20 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.test.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,18 @@ describe('JaegerDatasource', () => {
     expect(field.values.length).toBe(2);
   });
 
+  it('should fail on invalid json file upload', async () => {
+    const ds = new JaegerDatasource(defaultSettings);
+    ds.uploadedJson = JSON.stringify({ key: 'value', arr: [] });
+    const response = await lastValueFrom(
+      ds.query({
+        targets: [{ queryType: 'upload', refId: 'A' }],
+      } as any)
+    );
+    expect(response.error?.message).toBeDefined();
+    expect(response.data.length).toBe(0);
+  });
+
   it('should return search results when the query type is search', async () => {
     const mock = setupFetchMock({ data: [testResponse] });
     const ds = new JaegerDatasource(defaultSettings, timeSrvStub);
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.ts
index 5975d57b533..b1fccb96792 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/jaeger/datasource.ts
@@ -58,8 +58,13 @@ export class JaegerDatasource extends DataSourceApi<JaegerQuery> {
       if (!this.uploadedJson) {
         return of({ data: [] });
       }
-      const traceData = JSON.parse(this.uploadedJson as string).data[0];
-      return of({ data: [createTraceFrame(traceData), ...createGraphFrames(traceData)] });
+
+      try {
+        const traceData = JSON.parse(this.uploadedJson as string).data[0];
+        return of({ data: [createTraceFrame(traceData), ...createGraphFrames(traceData)] });
+      } catch (error) {
+        return of({ error: { message: 'JSON is not valid Jaeger format' }, data: [] });
+      }
     }
 
     let jaegerQuery = pick(target, ['operation', 'service', 'tags', 'minDuration', 'maxDuration', 'limit']);
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
index 805597f9465..d7ff615fa98 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
@@ -119,6 +119,18 @@ describe('Tempo data source', () => {
     expect(field.values.length).toBe(6);
   });
 
+  it('should fail on invalid json file upload', async () => {
+    const ds = new TempoDatasource(defaultSettings);
+    ds.uploadedJson = JSON.stringify(mockInvalidJson);
+    const response = await lastValueFrom(
+      ds.query({
+        targets: [{ queryType: 'upload', refId: 'A' }],
+      } as any)
+    );
+    expect(response.error?.message).toBeDefined();
+    expect(response.data.length).toBe(0);
+  });
+
   it('should build search query correctly', () => {
     const ds = new TempoDatasource(defaultSettings);
     const tempoQuery: TempoQuery = {
@@ -229,3 +241,36 @@ const secondsPromMetric = new MutableDataFrame({
     { name: 'Value #tempo_service_graph_request_server_seconds_sum', values: [10, 40] },
   ],
 });
+
+const mockInvalidJson = {
+  batches: [
+    {
+      resource: {
+        attributes: [],
+      },
+      instrumentation_library_spans: [
+        {
+          instrumentation_library: {},
+          spans: [
+            {
+              trace_id: 'AAAAAAAAAABguiq7RPE+rg==',
+              span_id: 'cmteMBAvwNA=',
+              parentSpanId: 'OY8PIaPbma4=',
+              name: 'HTTP GET - root',
+              kind: 'SPAN_KIND_SERVER',
+              startTimeUnixNano: '1627471657255809000',
+              endTimeUnixNano: '1627471657256268000',
+              attributes: [
+                { key: 'http.status_code', value: { intValue: '200' } },
+                { key: 'http.method', value: { stringValue: 'GET' } },
+                { key: 'http.url', value: { stringValue: '/' } },
+                { key: 'component', value: { stringValue: 'net/http' } },
+              ],
+              status: {},
+            },
+          ],
+        },
+      ],
+    },
+  ],
+};
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
index 61d9c5f9bca..29325c471a7 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ export class TempoDatasource extends DataSourceWithBackend<TempoQuery, TempoJson
       if (this.uploadedJson) {
         const otelTraceData = JSON.parse(this.uploadedJson as string);
         if (!otelTraceData.batches) {
-          subQueries.push(of({ error: { message: 'JSON is not valid opentelemetry format' }, data: [] }));
+          subQueries.push(of({ error: { message: 'JSON is not valid OpenTelemetry format' }, data: [] }));
         } else {
           subQueries.push(of(transformFromOTEL(otelTraceData.batches)));
         }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/resultTransformer.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/resultTransformer.ts
index faa8b31bff5..45a3d13d5aa 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/resultTransformer.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/resultTransformer.ts
@@ -250,25 +250,28 @@ export function transformFromOTLP(
       preferredVisualisationType: 'trace',
     },
   });
-
-  for (const data of traceData) {
-    const { serviceName, serviceTags } = resourceToProcess(data.resource);
-    for (const librarySpan of data.instrumentationLibrarySpans) {
-      for (const span of librarySpan.spans) {
-        frame.add({
-          traceID: transformBase64IDToHexString(span.traceId),
-          spanID: transformBase64IDToHexString(span.spanId),
-          parentSpanID: transformBase64IDToHexString(span.parentSpanId || ''),
-          operationName: span.name || '',
-          serviceName,
-          serviceTags,
-          startTime: span.startTimeUnixNano! / 1000000,
-          duration: (span.endTimeUnixNano! - span.startTimeUnixNano!) / 1000000,
-          tags: getSpanTags(span, librarySpan.instrumentationLibrary),
-          logs: getLogs(span),
-        } as TraceSpanRow);
+  try {
+    for (const data of traceData) {
+      const { serviceName, serviceTags } = resourceToProcess(data.resource);
+      for (const librarySpan of data.instrumentationLibrarySpans) {
+        for (const span of librarySpan.spans) {
+          frame.add({
+            traceID: transformBase64IDToHexString(span.traceId),
+            spanID: transformBase64IDToHexString(span.spanId),
+            parentSpanID: transformBase64IDToHexString(span.parentSpanId || ''),
+            operationName: span.name || '',
+            serviceName,
+            serviceTags,
+            startTime: span.startTimeUnixNano! / 1000000,
+            duration: (span.endTimeUnixNano! - span.startTimeUnixNano!) / 1000000,
+            tags: getSpanTags(span, librarySpan.instrumentationLibrary),
+            logs: getLogs(span),
+          } as TraceSpanRow);
+        }
       }
     }
+  } catch (error) {
+    return { error: { message: 'JSON is not valid OpenTelemetry format' }, data: [] };
   }
 
   return { data: [frame, ...createGraphFrames(frame)] };
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.test.ts
index ca3ae78e5da..48cbdd9b520 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.test.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,18 @@ describe('ZipkinDatasource', () => {
       expect(field.type).toBe(FieldType.string);
       expect(field.values.length).toBe(3);
     });
+
+    it('should fail on invalid json file upload', async () => {
+      const ds = new ZipkinDatasource(defaultSettings);
+      ds.uploadedJson = JSON.stringify({ key: 'value', arr: [] });
+      const response = await lastValueFrom(
+        ds.query({
+          targets: [{ queryType: 'upload', refId: 'A' }],
+        } as any)
+      );
+      expect(response.error?.message).toBeDefined();
+      expect(response.data.length).toBe(0);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('metadataRequest', () => {
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.ts
index cc839d95ee8..2a3bca07b13 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/zipkin/datasource.ts
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ export class ZipkinDatasource extends DataSourceApi<ZipkinQuery> {
       if (!this.uploadedJson) {
         return of({ data: [] });
       }
-      const traceData = JSON.parse(this.uploadedJson as string);
-      return of(responseToDataQueryResponse({ data: traceData }));
+
+      try {
+        const traceData = JSON.parse(this.uploadedJson as string);
+        return of(responseToDataQueryResponse({ data: traceData }));
+      } catch (error) {
+        return of({ error: { message: 'JSON is not valid Zipkin format' }, data: [] });
+      }
     }
 
     if (target.query) {