diff --git a/libavformat/mpegtsenc.c b/libavformat/mpegtsenc.c
index d09e4a012a..a4cc752d59 100644
--- a/libavformat/mpegtsenc.c
+++ b/libavformat/mpegtsenc.c
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@ static const AVClass mpegts_muxer_class = {
     .version        = LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_INT,
 };
 
+/* The section length is 12 bits. The first 2 are set to 0, the remaining
+ * 10 bits should not exceed 1021. */
+#define SECTION_LENGTH 1020
+
 /* NOTE: 4 bytes must be left at the end for the crc32 */
 static void mpegts_write_section(MpegTSSection *s, uint8_t *buf, int len)
 {
@@ -242,7 +246,7 @@ static void mpegts_write_pat(AVFormatContext *s)
 {
     MpegTSWrite *ts = s->priv_data;
     MpegTSService *service;
-    uint8_t data[1012], *q;
+    uint8_t data[SECTION_LENGTH], *q;
     int i;
 
     q = data;
@@ -258,7 +262,7 @@ static void mpegts_write_pat(AVFormatContext *s)
 static int mpegts_write_pmt(AVFormatContext *s, MpegTSService *service)
 {
     MpegTSWrite *ts = s->priv_data;
-    uint8_t data[1012], *q, *desc_length_ptr, *program_info_length_ptr;
+    uint8_t data[SECTION_LENGTH], *q, *desc_length_ptr, *program_info_length_ptr;
     int val, stream_type, i;
 
     q = data;
@@ -429,7 +433,7 @@ static void mpegts_write_sdt(AVFormatContext *s)
 {
     MpegTSWrite *ts = s->priv_data;
     MpegTSService *service;
-    uint8_t data[1012], *q, *desc_list_len_ptr, *desc_len_ptr;
+    uint8_t data[SECTION_LENGTH], *q, *desc_list_len_ptr, *desc_len_ptr;
     int i, running_status, free_ca_mode, val;
 
     q = data;