diff --git a/ffplay.c b/ffplay.c
index 94c7ed45d1..8fa8566141 100644
--- a/ffplay.c
+++ b/ffplay.c
@@ -2231,6 +2231,9 @@ static int video_thread(void *arg)
     enum AVPixelFormat last_format = -2;
     int last_serial = -1;
     int last_vfilter_idx = 0;
+    if (!graph)
+        return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+
 #endif
 
     if (!frame)