diff --git a/libavcodec/mmaldec.c b/libavcodec/mmaldec.c
index 924bfb2e26..e64ddbabce 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mmaldec.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mmaldec.c
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ static int ffmal_update_format(AVCodecContext *avctx)
         ret = AVERROR(ENOMEM);
         goto fail;
     }
-    atomic_store(&ctx->pool_out->refcount, 1);
+    atomic_init(&ctx->pool_out->refcount, 1);
 
     if (!format_out)
         goto fail;