diff --git a/src/StructuredLogViewer/MainWindow.xaml.cs b/src/StructuredLogViewer/MainWindow.xaml.cs
index 629b1b16..28d692ed 100644
--- a/src/StructuredLogViewer/MainWindow.xaml.cs
+++ b/src/StructuredLogViewer/MainWindow.xaml.cs
@@ -211,6 +211,7 @@ private async System.Threading.Tasks.Task UpdateApplicationAsync()
                 {
                     var versionText = result.Version.ToString();
                     message = "After restarting the app you will be on version " + versionText;
+                    BinaryLogger.IsNewerVersionAvailable = true;
                     FileAssociations.EnsureAssociationsSet(versionText);
                 }
                 else
diff --git a/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinLogReader.cs b/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinLogReader.cs
index 62a77c8f..b9a0382a 100644
--- a/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinLogReader.cs
+++ b/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinLogReader.cs
@@ -66,13 +66,7 @@ public void Replay(Stream stream, Progress progress)
 
             OnFileFormatVersionRead?.Invoke(fileFormatVersion);
 
-            // the log file is written using a newer version of file format
-            // that we don't know how to read
-            if (fileFormatVersion > BinaryLogger.FileFormatVersion)
-            {
-                var text = $"Unsupported log file format. Latest supported version is {BinaryLogger.FileFormatVersion}, the log file has version {fileFormatVersion}.";
-                throw new NotSupportedException(text);
-            }
+            EnsureFileFormatVersionKnown(fileFormatVersion);
 
             // Use a producer-consumer queue so that IO can happen on one thread
             // while processing can happen on another thread decoupled. The speed
@@ -143,6 +137,21 @@ public void Replay(Stream stream, Progress progress)
             }
         }
 
+        private void EnsureFileFormatVersionKnown(int fileFormatVersion)
+        {
+            // the log file is written using a newer version of file format
+            // that we don't know how to read
+            if (fileFormatVersion > BinaryLogger.FileFormatVersion)
+            {
+                var text = $"Unsupported log file format. Latest supported version is {BinaryLogger.FileFormatVersion}, the log file has version {fileFormatVersion}.";
+                if (BinaryLogger.IsNewerVersionAvailable)
+                {
+                    text += " Update available - restart this instance to automatically use newer version.";
+                }
+                throw new NotSupportedException(text);
+            }
+        }
+
         private class DisposableEnumerable<T> : IEnumerable<T>, IDisposable
         {
             private IEnumerable<T> enumerable;
@@ -210,13 +219,7 @@ public IEnumerable<Record> ReadRecordsFromDecompressedStream(Stream decompressed
 
             int fileFormatVersion = binaryReader.ReadInt32();
 
-            // the log file is written using a newer version of file format
-            // that we don't know how to read
-            if (fileFormatVersion > BinaryLogger.FileFormatVersion)
-            {
-                var text = $"Unsupported log file format. Latest supported version is {BinaryLogger.FileFormatVersion}, the log file has version {fileFormatVersion}.";
-                throw new NotSupportedException(text);
-            }
+            EnsureFileFormatVersionKnown(fileFormatVersion);
 
             long lengthOfBlobsAddedLastTime = 0;
 
diff --git a/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinaryLogger.cs b/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinaryLogger.cs
index eb4f4675..47d539d3 100644
--- a/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinaryLogger.cs
+++ b/src/StructuredLogger/BinaryLogger/BinaryLogger.cs
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ public sealed class BinaryLogger : ILogger
         //   - AssemblyLoadBuildEventArgs
         internal const int FileFormatVersion = 16;
 
+        public static bool IsNewerVersionAvailable { get; set; }
+
         private Stream stream;
         private BinaryWriter binaryWriter;
         private BuildEventArgsWriter eventArgsWriter;