diff --git a/libavcodec/adpcm.c b/libavcodec/adpcm.c
index cee1eed7bd..bbc7d1cd27 100644
--- a/libavcodec/adpcm.c
+++ b/libavcodec/adpcm.c
@@ -101,8 +101,9 @@ static av_cold int adpcm_decode_init(AVCodecContext * avctx)
         max_channels = 6;
         break;
     }
-    if(avctx->channels > max_channels){
-        return -1;
+    if (avctx->channels <= 0 || avctx->channels > max_channels) {
+        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Invalid number of channels\n");
+        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
     }
 
     switch(avctx->codec->id) {