diff --git a/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c b/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
index 847b1164b6..53f584dac8 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
@@ -1283,6 +1283,8 @@ static int estimate_best_b_count(MpegEncContext *s)
     int64_t best_rd  = INT64_MAX;
     int best_b_count = -1;
 
+    if (!c)
+        return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
     av_assert0(scale >= 0 && scale <= 3);
 
     //emms_c();