diff --git a/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.cpp b/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.cpp
index 853c979..6c2c7dd 100644
--- a/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.cpp
+++ b/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #include "mnistloader.h"
 
+#include <fstream>
+#include <functional>
+#include <memory>
+#include <list>
+
+#include <intrin.h>
+
 MnistLoader::MnistLoader()
 {
 
@@ -7,6 +14,83 @@ MnistLoader::MnistLoader()
 
 void MnistLoader::load(const std::string &databaseFileName, const std::string &labelsFileName)
 {
-
+    loadDatabase(databaseFileName);
+    loadLabels(labelsFileName);
+}
+
+void MnistLoader::loadDatabase(const std::string &fileName)
+{
+    std::ifstream databaseFile;
+    databaseFile.open(fileName, std::ios::binary);
+
+    if (!databaseFile.is_open())
+    {
+        throw std::runtime_error("unable to open MNIST database file");
+    }
+
+    int32_t magicNumber = readInt32(databaseFile);
+    if (magicNumber != 2051)
+    {
+        throw std::runtime_error("unexpected data reading MNIST database file");
+    }
+
+    int32_t sampleCount = readInt32(databaseFile);
+    int32_t sampleWidth = readInt32(databaseFile);
+    int32_t sampleHeight = readInt32(databaseFile);
+
+    std::list<std::unique_ptr<int8_t[]>> samples;
+
+    for (size_t sampleIndex = 0; sampleIndex < sampleCount; ++sampleIndex)
+    {
+        std::unique_ptr<int8_t[]> sampleData = std::make_unique<int8_t[]>(sampleWidth * sampleHeight);
+
+        databaseFile.read(reinterpret_cast<char *>(sampleData.get()), sampleWidth * sampleHeight);
+
+        samples.push_back(std::move(sampleData));
+    }
+
+    return;
+}
+
+void MnistLoader::loadLabels(const std::string &fileName)
+{
+    std::ifstream labelFile;
+    labelFile.open(fileName, std::ios::binary);
+
+    if (!labelFile.is_open())
+    {
+        throw std::runtime_error("unable to open MNIST label file");
+    }
+
+    int32_t magicNumber = readInt32(labelFile);
+    if (magicNumber != 2049)
+    {
+        throw std::runtime_error("unexpected data reading MNIST label file");
+    }
+
+    int32_t labelCount = readInt32(labelFile);
+
+    std::list<int8_t> labels;
+
+    for (size_t labelIndex = 0; labelIndex < labelCount; ++labelIndex)
+    {
+        labels.push_back(readInt8(labelFile));
+    }
+
+    return;
+}
+
+int8_t MnistLoader::readInt8(std::ifstream &file)
+{
+    int8_t buf8;
+    file.read(reinterpret_cast<char *>(&buf8), sizeof(buf8));
+    return buf8;
+}
+
+int32_t MnistLoader::readInt32(std::ifstream &file)
+{
+    int32_t buf32;
+    file.read(reinterpret_cast<char *>(&buf32), sizeof(buf32));
+    return _byteswap_ulong(buf32);
 }
 
diff --git a/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.h b/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.h
index f277eba..e15081c 100644
--- a/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.h
+++ b/gui/NeuroUI/mnistloader.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define MNISTLOADER_H
 
 #include <string>
+#include <inttypes.h>
 
 class MnistLoader
 {
@@ -9,6 +10,13 @@ public:
     MnistLoader();
 
     void load(const std::string &databaseFileName, const std::string &labelsFileName);
+
+private:
+    void loadDatabase(const std::string &fileName);
+    void loadLabels(const std::string &fileName);
+
+    static int8_t readInt8(std::ifstream &file);
+    static int32_t readInt32(std::ifstream &file);
 };
 
 #endif // MNISTLOADER_H
diff --git a/gui/NeuroUI/netlearner.cpp b/gui/NeuroUI/netlearner.cpp
index 59147c9..51b5632 100644
--- a/gui/NeuroUI/netlearner.cpp
+++ b/gui/NeuroUI/netlearner.cpp
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ void NetLearner::run()
         emit progress(0.0);
 
         MnistLoader mnistLoader;
-        mnistLoader.load("../NeuroUI/MNIST Aatabase/train-images.idx3-ubyte",
-                         "../NeuroUI/MNIST Aatabase/train-labels.idx1-ubyte");
+        mnistLoader.load("../NeuroUI/MNIST Database/train-images.idx3-ubyte",
+                         "../NeuroUI/MNIST Database/train-labels.idx1-ubyte");
 
         emit logMessage("done");
         emit progress(0.0);