diff --git a/dag-cbor/src/lib.rs b/dag-cbor/src/lib.rs
index 00cf7547..d538aa42 100644
--- a/dag-cbor/src/lib.rs
+++ b/dag-cbor/src/lib.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ pub mod cbor;
 pub mod decode;
 pub mod encode;
 pub mod error;
+pub mod validate;
 
 /// CBOR codec.
 #[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Default, PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord)]
diff --git a/dag-cbor/src/validate.rs b/dag-cbor/src/validate.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2f8a09ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dag-cbor/src/validate.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+use crate::cbor::*;
+use crate::decode::{read_link, read_major, read_uint};
+use crate::error::{UnexpectedCode, UnknownTag};
+use libipld_core::error::Result;
+use libipld_core::ipld::Ipld;
+use std::io::SeekFrom::Current;
+use std::io::{Read, Seek};
+
+/// Validates that the supplied input is validly formed DAG-CBOR, avoiding deserialization as
+/// much as possible.
+pub fn validate<R: Read + Seek>(r: &mut R) -> Result<()> {
+    let major = read_major(r)?;
+    let skip: u64 = match major.kind() {
+        // Integer: we need to consume the value to validate that the minimal
+        // encoding constraint is respected.
+        MajorKind::UnsignedInt | MajorKind::NegativeInt => {
+            read_uint(r, major)?;
+            0
+        }
+        // Bytes, Text, Array: opaque sized items, skip over them.
+        MajorKind::ByteString | MajorKind::TextString => read_uint(r, major)?,
+        MajorKind::Array => {
+            validate_list(r, major)?;
+            0
+        }
+        MajorKind::Map => {
+            validate_map(r, major)?;
+            0
+        }
+        // For tags, we only accept 42 (IPLD CID) and we validate the CID is well-formed,
+        // thus having to consume the full CID.
+        MajorKind::Tag => {
+            let value = read_uint(r, major)?;
+            if value != 42 {
+                return Err(UnknownTag(value).into());
+            }
+            read_link(r)?;
+            0
+        }
+        MajorKind::Other => match major {
+            TRUE | FALSE | NULL => 0,
+            F32 => 4,
+            F64 => 8,
+            m => return Err(UnexpectedCode::new::<Ipld>(m.into()).into()),
+        },
+    };
+    r.seek(Current(skip as i64))?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Validates that a CBOR map meets DAG-CBOR constraints, i.e. String keys and DAG-CBOR values.
+fn validate_map<R: Read + Seek>(r: &mut R, major: Major) -> Result<()> {
+    let len = read_uint(r, major)?;
+
+    (0..len).try_for_each(|_| {
+        // Key is string.
+        let major = read_major(r)?;
+        if major.kind() == MajorKind::TextString {
+            let len = read_uint(r, major)?;
+            r.seek(Current(len as i64))?;
+        } else {
+            return Err(UnexpectedCode::new::<Ipld>(major.into()).into());
+        }
+        // Value is valid DAG_CBOR.
+        validate(r)
+    })
+}
+
+/// Validates that a list is formed by valid DAG-CBOR elements.
+fn validate_list<R: Read + Seek>(r: &mut R, major: Major) -> Result<()> {
+    let len = read_uint(r, major)?;
+    (0..len).try_for_each(|_| validate(r))
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use crate::validate::validate;
+    use crate::DagCborCodec;
+    use libipld_core::cid::Cid;
+    use libipld_core::codec::Codec;
+    use libipld_core::multihash::MultihashDigest;
+    use libipld_macro::ipld;
+    use multihash::Code;
+    use std::io::Cursor;
+
+    #[test]
+    pub fn test_validate() {
+        let cid = Cid::new_v1(0, Code::Blake3_256.digest(&b"cid"[..]));
+        let ipld = ipld!({
+            "small number": 1,
+            "negative number": -100,
+            "zero": 0,
+            "null": null,
+            "list": [true, null, false],
+            "bytes": vec![0, 1, 2, 3],
+            "map": { "float": 0.0, "string": "hello", "bytes": vec![1, 2, 3], "link": cid.clone() },
+            "link": cid,
+        });
+
+        // Valid.
+        let bytes = DagCborCodec.encode(&ipld).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!((), validate(&mut Cursor::new(bytes.clone())).unwrap());
+
+        // Invalid; truncated.
+        let truncated = &bytes.clone()[..bytes.len() - 2];
+        assert!(validate(&mut Cursor::new(&truncated)).is_err());
+
+        // Invalid; garbled.
+        let mut garbled = bytes.clone();
+        garbled[1] = 0xff;
+        garbled[3] = 0xff;
+        assert!(validate(&mut Cursor::new(garbled)).is_err());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    pub fn test_invalid_indefinite_length_map() {
+        let bytes = [
+            0xBF, // Start indefinite-length map
+            0x63, // First key, UTF-8 string length 3
+            0x46, 0x75, 0x6e, // "Fun"
+            0xF5, // First value, true
+            0x63, // Second key, UTF-8 string length 3
+            0x41, 0x6d, 0x74, // "Amt"
+            0x21, // Second value, -2
+            0xFF, // "break"
+        ];
+        assert!(validate(&mut Cursor::new(bytes)).is_err());
+    }
+}