diff --git a/libavcodec/mlpdec.c b/libavcodec/mlpdec.c
index d3850b102f..93ed55212f 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mlpdec.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mlpdec.c
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ FF_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS
 FF_ENABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS
     } else
 #endif
-    if ((s->ch_layout & m->avctx->request_channel_layout) ==
+    if (m->avctx->request_channel_layout && (s->ch_layout & m->avctx->request_channel_layout) ==
         m->avctx->request_channel_layout && m->max_decoded_substream > substr) {
         av_log(m->avctx, AV_LOG_DEBUG,
                "Extracting %d-channel downmix (0x%"PRIx64") from substream %d. "