diff --git a/src/virtual-machine.js b/src/virtual-machine.js
index 07aa159b4..da9849616 100644
--- a/src/virtual-machine.js
+++ b/src/virtual-machine.js
@@ -189,21 +189,22 @@ class VirtualMachine extends EventEmitter {
     /**
      * Load a project from a Scratch 3.0 sb3 file containing a project json
      * and all of the sound and costume files.
-     * @param {JSZip} sb3File The sb3 file representing the project to load.
+     * @param {Buffer} inputBuffer A buffer representing the project to load.
      * @return {!Promise} Promise that resolves after targets are installed.
      */
-    loadProjectLocal (sb3File) {
+    loadProjectLocal (inputBuffer) {
         // TODO need to handle sb2 files as well, and will possibly merge w/
         // above function
-        return sb3File.file('project.json').async('string')
-            .then(json => {
-                // TODO look at promise documentation to do this on success,
-                // but something else on error
-
-                json = JSON.parse(json); // TODO catch errors here (validation)
-                return sb3.deserialize(json, this.runtime, sb3File)
-                    .then(({targets, extensions}) =>
-                        this.installTargets(targets, extensions, true));
+        return JSZip.loadAsync(inputBuffer)
+            .then(sb3File => {
+                sb3File.file('project.json').async('string')
+                    .then(json => {
+                        // TODO error handling for unpacking zip/not finding project.json
+                        json = JSON.parse(json); // TODO catch errors here (validation)
+                        return sb3.deserialize(json, this.runtime, sb3File)
+                            .then(({targets, extensions}) =>
+                                this.installTargets(targets, extensions, true));
+                    });
             });
     }