diff --git a/libavformat/utils.c b/libavformat/utils.c
index 2c2ea876b6..72531d4185 100644
--- a/libavformat/utils.c
+++ b/libavformat/utils.c
@@ -869,9 +869,9 @@ int ff_read_packet(AVFormatContext *s, AVPacket *pkt)
 
         if (!pkt->buf) {
             AVPacket tmp = { 0 };
-            ret = av_packet_ref(&tmp, pkt);
-            if (ret < 0)
-                return ret;
+            err = av_packet_ref(&tmp, pkt);
+            if (err < 0)
+                return err;
             *pkt = tmp;
         }