diff --git a/fftools/cmdutils.c b/fftools/cmdutils.c
index 3c8e5a82cd..882584e9c2 100644
--- a/fftools/cmdutils.c
+++ b/fftools/cmdutils.c
@@ -2187,7 +2187,7 @@ AVDictionary **setup_find_stream_info_opts(AVFormatContext *s,
     if (!opts) {
         av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_ERROR,
                "Could not alloc memory for stream options.\n");
-        return NULL;
+        exit_program(1);
     }
     for (i = 0; i < s->nb_streams; i++)
         opts[i] = filter_codec_opts(codec_opts, s->streams[i]->codecpar->codec_id,
diff --git a/fftools/cmdutils.h b/fftools/cmdutils.h
index 82cda208be..50eed9b13a 100644
--- a/fftools/cmdutils.h
+++ b/fftools/cmdutils.h
@@ -430,8 +430,8 @@ AVDictionary *filter_codec_opts(AVDictionary *opts, enum AVCodecID codec_id,
  * Each dictionary will contain the options from codec_opts which can
  * be applied to the corresponding stream codec context.
  *
- * @return pointer to the created array of dictionaries, NULL if it
- * cannot be created
+ * @return pointer to the created array of dictionaries.
+ * Calls exit() on failure.
  */
 AVDictionary **setup_find_stream_info_opts(AVFormatContext *s,
                                            AVDictionary *codec_opts);