diff --git a/mlx/io/load.cpp b/mlx/io/load.cpp
index 92366be7..37680cb4 100644
--- a/mlx/io/load.cpp
+++ b/mlx/io/load.cpp
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ Dtype dtype_from_array_protocol(std::string_view t) {
       case 'b': {
         if (size == 1)
           return bool_;
+        break;
       }
       case 'i': {
         if (size == 1)
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ Dtype dtype_from_array_protocol(std::string_view t) {
           return int32;
         else if (size == 8)
           return int64;
+        break;
       }
       case 'u': {
         if (size == 1)
@@ -92,21 +94,27 @@ Dtype dtype_from_array_protocol(std::string_view t) {
           return uint32;
         else if (size == 8)
           return uint64;
+        break;
       }
       case 'f': {
         if (size == 2)
           return float16;
         else if (size == 4)
           return float32;
+        else if (size == 8)
+          return float64;
+        break;
       }
       case 'c': {
-        return complex64;
+        if (size == 8)
+          return complex64;
+        break;
       }
     }
   }
 
   throw std::invalid_argument(
-      "[from_str] Invalid array protocol type-string: " + std::string(t));
+      "[from_str] Unsupported array protocol type-string: " + std::string(t));
 }
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
diff --git a/python/tests/test_load.py b/python/tests/test_load.py
index eaf7bcad..b8b4b1a1 100644
--- a/python/tests/test_load.py
+++ b/python/tests/test_load.py
@@ -71,6 +71,21 @@ class TestLoad(mlx_tests.MLXTestCase):
         load_arr = mx.load(Path(save_file))
         self.assertTrue(mx.array_equal(load_arr, save_arr))
 
+    def test_load_npy_dtype(self):
+        save_file = os.path.join(self.test_dir, "mlx_path.npy")
+        a = np.random.randn(8).astype(np.float64)
+        np.save(save_file, a)
+        out = mx.load(save_file, stream=mx.cpu)
+        self.assertEqual(out.dtype, mx.float64)
+        self.assertTrue(np.array_equal(np.array(out), a))
+
+        a = np.random.randn(8).astype(np.float64)
+        b = np.random.randn(8).astype(np.float64)
+        c = a + 0j * b
+        np.save(save_file, c)
+        with self.assertRaises(Exception):
+            out = mx.load(save_file, stream=mx.cpu)
+
     def test_save_and_load_safetensors(self):
         test_file = os.path.join(self.test_dir, "test.safetensors")
         with self.assertRaises(Exception):