diff --git a/libavcodec/webvttenc.c b/libavcodec/webvttenc.c
index dbe7c3d26e..9f67a2eab6 100644
--- a/libavcodec/webvttenc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/webvttenc.c
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ static void webvtt_print(WebVTTContext *s, const char *str, ...)
 static int webvtt_stack_push(WebVTTContext *s, const char c)
 {
     if (s->stack_ptr >= WEBVTT_STACK_SIZE)
-        return AVERROR(EOVERFLOW);
+        return -1;
     s->stack[s->stack_ptr++] = c;
     return 0;
 }