diff --git a/sys/ximage/ximagesink.c b/sys/ximage/ximagesink.c
index d1780fcf51..99ad35b350 100644
--- a/sys/ximage/ximagesink.c
+++ b/sys/ximage/ximagesink.c
@@ -1779,6 +1779,13 @@ gst_ximagesink_buffer_alloc (GstBaseSink * bsink, guint64 offset, guint size,
 
   ximagesink = GST_XIMAGESINK (bsink);
 
+  if (G_UNLIKELY (!caps)) {
+    GST_WARNING_OBJECT (ximagesink, "have no caps, doing fallback allocation");
+    *buf = NULL;
+    ret = GST_FLOW_OK;
+    goto beach;
+  }
+
   /* This shouldn't really happen because state changes will fail
    * if the xcontext can't be allocated */
   if (!ximagesink->xcontext)
diff --git a/sys/xvimage/xvimagesink.c b/sys/xvimage/xvimagesink.c
index 51b2d9cf4e..30368d51f0 100644
--- a/sys/xvimage/xvimagesink.c
+++ b/sys/xvimage/xvimagesink.c
@@ -2508,6 +2508,9 @@ gst_xvimagesink_buffer_alloc (GstBaseSink * bsink, guint64 offset, guint size,
 
   xvimagesink = GST_XVIMAGESINK (bsink);
 
+  if (G_UNLIKELY (!caps))
+    goto no_caps;
+
   g_mutex_lock (xvimagesink->pool_lock);
   if (G_UNLIKELY (xvimagesink->pool_invalid))
     goto invalid;
@@ -2701,6 +2704,13 @@ invalid_caps:
     g_mutex_unlock (xvimagesink->pool_lock);
     goto beach;
   }
+no_caps:
+  {
+    GST_WARNING_OBJECT (xvimagesink, "have no caps, doing fallback allocation");
+    *buf = NULL;
+    ret = GST_FLOW_OK;
+    goto beach;
+  }
 }
 
 /* Interfaces stuff */