diff --git a/libavfilter/vf_frei0r.c b/libavfilter/vf_frei0r.c
index 771443d02e..0122b8d905 100644
--- a/libavfilter/vf_frei0r.c
+++ b/libavfilter/vf_frei0r.c
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ static int set_params(AVFilterContext *ctx, const char *params)
         if (*params) {
             if (!(param = av_get_token(&params, "|")))
                 return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
-            params++;               /* skip ':' */
+            if (*params)
+                params++;               /* skip ':' */
             ret = set_param(ctx, info, i, param);
             av_free(param);
             if (ret < 0)