diff --git a/lib/decoder.js b/lib/decoder.js
index 2a4d2e0..dcfc5b3 100644
--- a/lib/decoder.js
+++ b/lib/decoder.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import varint from 'varint'
 import { CID } from 'multiformats/cid'
 import * as Digest from 'multiformats/hashes/digest'
 import { decode as decodeDagCbor } from '@ipld/dag-cbor'
+import { CarHeader as headerValidator } from './header-validator.js'
 
 /**
  * @typedef {import('../api').Block} Block
@@ -33,9 +34,10 @@ async function readVarint (reader) {
 
 /**
  * @param {BytesReader} reader
+ * @param {number} [strictVersion=1] a strict version to expect in the header, or -1 to skip version checking entirely
  * @returns {Promise<CarHeader>}
  */
-export async function readHeader (reader) {
+export async function readHeader (reader, strictVersion = 1) {
   const length = await readVarint(reader)
   if (length === 0) {
     throw new Error('Invalid CAR header (zero length)')
@@ -43,19 +45,17 @@ export async function readHeader (reader) {
   const header = await reader.exactly(length)
   reader.seek(length)
   const block = decodeDagCbor(header)
-  if (block == null || Array.isArray(block) || typeof block !== 'object') {
+  if (!headerValidator(block)) {
     throw new Error('Invalid CAR header format')
   }
-  if (block.version !== 1) {
-    if (typeof block.version === 'string') {
-      throw new Error(`Invalid CAR version: "${block.version}"`)
+  if (strictVersion !== -1) {
+    if (block.version !== strictVersion) {
+      throw new Error(`Invalid CAR version: ${block.version}`)
     }
-    throw new Error(`Invalid CAR version: ${block.version}`)
   }
   if (!Array.isArray(block.roots)) {
-    throw new Error('Invalid CAR header format')
-  }
-  if (Object.keys(block).filter((p) => p !== 'roots' && p !== 'version').length) {
+    // we've made 'roots' optional in the schema so we can do the version check
+    // before rejecting the block as invalid if there is no version
     throw new Error('Invalid CAR header format')
   }
   return block
diff --git a/lib/header-validator.js b/lib/header-validator.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..634e64b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/header-validator.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/** Auto-generated with ipld-schema-validator@0.0.0-dev at Thu Jun 17 2021 from IPLD Schema:
+ *
+ * type CarHeader struct {
+ *   version Int
+ *   roots optional [&Any]
+ *   # roots is _not_ optional for CarV1 but we defer that check within code to
+ *   # gracefully handle the >V1 case where it's just {version:X}
+ * }
+ *
+ */
+
+const Kinds = {
+  Null: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => obj === null,
+  Int: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => Number.isInteger(obj),
+  Float: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => typeof obj === 'number' && Number.isFinite(obj),
+  String: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => typeof obj === 'string',
+  Bool: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => typeof obj === 'boolean',
+  Bytes: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => obj instanceof Uint8Array,
+  Link: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => !Kinds.Null(obj) && typeof obj === 'object' && obj.asCID === obj,
+  List: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => Array.isArray(obj),
+  Map: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => !Kinds.Null(obj) && typeof obj === 'object' && obj.asCID !== obj && !Kinds.List(obj) && !Kinds.Bytes(obj)
+}
+/** @type {{ [k in string]: (obj:any)=>boolean}} */
+const Types = {
+  Int: Kinds.Int,
+  'CarHeader > version': /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => Types.Int(obj),
+  'CarHeader > roots (anon) > valueType (anon)': Kinds.Link,
+  'CarHeader > roots (anon)': /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => Kinds.List(obj) && Array.prototype.every.call(obj, Types['CarHeader > roots (anon) > valueType (anon)']),
+  'CarHeader > roots': /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => Types['CarHeader > roots (anon)'](obj),
+  CarHeader: /** @returns {boolean} */ (/** @type {any} */ obj) => { const keys = obj && Object.keys(obj); return Kinds.Map(obj) && ['version'].every((k) => keys.includes(k)) && Object.entries(obj).every(([name, value]) => Types['CarHeader > ' + name] && Types['CarHeader > ' + name](value)) }
+}
+
+export const CarHeader = Types.CarHeader
diff --git a/lib/header.ipldsch b/lib/header.ipldsch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f10a23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/header.ipldsch
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+type CarHeader struct {
+  version Int
+  roots optional [&Any]
+  # roots is _not_ optional for CarV1 but we defer that check within code to
+  # gracefully handle the >V1 case where it's just {version:X}
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e2d6c56..46d7c32 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     "build:types": "tsc --build && mv types dist",
     "test:cjs": "rm -rf dist && npm run build && cp test/go.car dist/cjs/node-test/ && mocha dist/cjs/node-test/test-*.js && mocha dist/cjs/node-test/node-test-*.js && npm run test:cjs:browser",
     "test:esm": "rm -rf dist && npm run build && cp test/go.car dist/esm/node-test/ && mocha dist/esm/node-test/test-*.js && mocha dist/esm/node-test/node-test-*.js && npm run test:esm:browser",
-    "test:node": "c8 --check-coverage --branches 100 --functions 100 --lines 100 mocha test/test-*.js test/node-test-*.js",
+    "test:node": "c8 --check-coverage --branches 100 --functions 100 --lines 100 --exclude lib/header-validator.js --exclude test/ mocha test/test-*.js test/node-test-*.js",
     "test:cjs:browser": "polendina --page --worker --serviceworker --cleanup dist/cjs/browser-test/test-*.js",
     "test:esm:browser": "polendina --page --worker --serviceworker --cleanup dist/esm/browser-test/test-*.js",
     "test": "npm run lint && npm run test:node && npm run test:cjs && npm run test --prefix examples/",
@@ -211,4 +211,4 @@
       "@semantic-release/git"
     ]
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/test-errors.js b/test/test-errors.js
index 0cfa4d6..7594985 100644
--- a/test/test-errors.js
+++ b/test/test-errors.js
@@ -40,37 +40,46 @@ describe('Misc errors', () => {
     await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR version: 2')
   })
 
-  it('bad header', async () => {
-    // sanity check, this should be fine
-    let buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1, roots: [] })
-    await assert.isFulfilled(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2))
+  describe('bad header', async () => {
+    it('sanity check', async () => {
+      // sanity check, this should be fine
+      const buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1, roots: [] })
+      await assert.isFulfilled(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2))
+    })
 
-    // no 'version' array
-    buf2 = makeHeader({ roots: [] })
-    await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR version: undefined')
+    it('no \'version\' array', async () => {
+      const buf2 = makeHeader({ roots: [] })
+      await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    })
 
-    // bad 'version' type
-    buf2 = makeHeader({ version: '1', roots: [] })
-    await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR version: "1"')
+    it('bad \'version\' type', async () => {
+      const buf2 = makeHeader({ version: '1', roots: [] })
+      await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    })
 
-    // no 'roots' array
-    buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1 })
-    await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    it('no \'roots\' array', async () => {
+      const buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1 })
+      await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    })
 
-    // bad 'roots' type
-    buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1, roots: {} })
-    await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    it('bad \'roots\' type', async () => {
+      const buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1, roots: {} })
+      await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    })
 
-    // extraneous properties
-    buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1, roots: [], blip: true })
-    await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    it('extraneous properties', async () => {
+      const buf2 = makeHeader({ version: 1, roots: [], blip: true })
+      await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    })
 
-    // not an object
-    buf2 = makeHeader([1, []])
-    await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    it('not an object', async () => {
+      const buf2 = makeHeader([1, []])
+      await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    })
 
-    // not an object
-    buf2 = makeHeader(null)
-    await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    it('not an object', async () => {
+      const buf2 = makeHeader(null)
+      await assert.isRejected(CarReader.fromBytes(buf2), Error, 'Invalid CAR header format')
+    })
   })
 })