diff --git a/gst/isomp4/qtdemux.c b/gst/isomp4/qtdemux.c
index d1ce320b88..b2a08d728c 100644
--- a/gst/isomp4/qtdemux.c
+++ b/gst/isomp4/qtdemux.c
@@ -12377,7 +12377,8 @@ qtdemux_is_streams_update (GstQTDemux * qtdemux)
 {
   GList *new, *old;
 
-  g_return_val_if_fail (qtdemux->active_streams != NULL, FALSE);
+  if (!qtdemux->active_streams)
+    return FALSE;
 
   /* streams in list are sorted in track-id order */
   for (new = qtdemux->active_streams, old = qtdemux->old_streams; new && old;