diff --git a/libavfilter/vf_scale.c b/libavfilter/vf_scale.c
index 5d015a99ba..d99e0c1dab 100644
--- a/libavfilter/vf_scale.c
+++ b/libavfilter/vf_scale.c
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ static av_cold int init(AVFilterContext *ctx, const char *args, void *opaque)
     /* sanity check params */
     if (scale->w <  -1 || scale->h <  -1) {
         av_log(ctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Size values less than -1 are not acceptable.\n");
-        return -1;
+        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
     }
     if (scale->w == -1 && scale->h == -1)
         scale->w = scale->h = 0;