diff --git a/libavcodec/hw_base_encode.c b/libavcodec/hw_base_encode.c
index 8411cc7582..7b6ec97d3b 100644
--- a/libavcodec/hw_base_encode.c
+++ b/libavcodec/hw_base_encode.c
@@ -440,16 +440,18 @@ static int hw_base_encode_send_frame(AVCodecContext *avctx, FFHWBaseEncodeContex
             goto fail;
         }
 
-        pic->recon_image = av_frame_alloc();
-        if (!pic->recon_image) {
-            err = AVERROR(ENOMEM);
-            goto fail;
-        }
+        if (ctx->recon_frames_ref) {
+            pic->recon_image = av_frame_alloc();
+            if (!pic->recon_image) {
+                err = AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                goto fail;
+            }
 
-        err = av_hwframe_get_buffer(ctx->recon_frames_ref, pic->recon_image, 0);
-        if (err < 0) {
-            err = AVERROR(ENOMEM);
-            goto fail;
+            err = av_hwframe_get_buffer(ctx->recon_frames_ref, pic->recon_image, 0);
+            if (err < 0) {
+                err = AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                goto fail;
+            }
         }
 
         pic->priv = av_mallocz(ctx->op->priv_size);