diff --git a/libavformat/utils.c b/libavformat/utils.c
index 3fce3fa87b..0c1a50d816 100644
--- a/libavformat/utils.c
+++ b/libavformat/utils.c
@@ -499,7 +499,9 @@ int av_open_input_file(AVFormatContext **ic_ptr, const char *filename,
     av_freep(&pd->buf);
     if (pb)
         url_fclose(pb);
-    av_freep(ic_ptr);
+    if (ap && ap->prealloced_context)
+        av_free(*ic_ptr);
+    *ic_ptr = NULL;
     return err;
 
 }