diff --git a/libavutil/lzo.c b/libavutil/lzo.c
index 0b9d2e42ba..3642308100 100644
--- a/libavutil/lzo.c
+++ b/libavutil/lzo.c
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ static inline void memcpy_backptr(uint8_t *dst, int back, int cnt);
 
 /**
  * @brief Copies previously decoded bytes to current position.
- * @param back how many bytes back we start
+ * @param back how many bytes back we start, must be > 0
  * @param cnt number of bytes to copy, must be >= 0
  *
  * cnt > back is valid, this will copy the bytes we just copied,
@@ -135,9 +135,9 @@ static inline void copy_backptr(LZOContext *c, int back, int cnt) {
 
 static inline void memcpy_backptr(uint8_t *dst, int back, int cnt) {
     const uint8_t *src = &dst[-back];
-    if (back == 1) {
+    if (back <= 1) {
         memset(dst, *src, cnt);
-    } else if(back>0) {
+    } else {
 #ifdef OUTBUF_PADDED
         COPY2(dst, src);
         COPY2(dst + 2, src + 2);
diff --git a/libavutil/lzo.h b/libavutil/lzo.h
index d60d8d7487..379c08c8c7 100644
--- a/libavutil/lzo.h
+++ b/libavutil/lzo.h
@@ -62,11 +62,14 @@ int av_lzo1x_decode(void *out, int *outlen, const void *in, int *inlen);
 /**
  * @brief deliberately overlapping memcpy implementation
  * @param dst destination buffer; must be padded with 12 additional bytes
- * @param back how many bytes back we start (the initial size of the overlapping window)
+ * @param back how many bytes back we start (the initial size of the overlapping window), must be > 0
  * @param cnt number of bytes to copy, must be >= 0
  *
  * cnt > back is valid, this will copy the bytes we just copied,
  * thus creating a repeating pattern with a period length of back.
+ * Note that lcldec currently can set back == 0 - which is wrong and
+ * makes no sense, but the code should at least avoid crashing or hanging
+ * for this case.
  */
 void av_memcpy_backptr(uint8_t *dst, int back, int cnt);