diff --git a/ffmpeg.c b/ffmpeg.c
index b8f5bbac6d..611d6a8277 100644
--- a/ffmpeg.c
+++ b/ffmpeg.c
@@ -2020,7 +2020,7 @@ static int transcode_init(void)
     AVCodecContext *codec;
     OutputStream *ost;
     InputStream *ist;
-    char error[1024];
+    char error[1024] = {0};
     int want_sdp = 1;
 
     /* init framerate emulation */