diff --git a/tests/simple-decoder.c b/tests/simple-decoder.c
index 5b50c87752..3c434d0646 100644
--- a/tests/simple-decoder.c
+++ b/tests/simple-decoder.c
@@ -498,7 +498,7 @@ renderer_process(App *app, RenderFrame *rfp)
     ensure_window_size(app, surface);
 
     crop_rect = gst_vaapi_surface_proxy_get_crop_rect(rfp->proxy);
-    if (!ensure_pixmaps(app, surface, crop_rect))
+    if (g_use_pixmap && !ensure_pixmaps(app, surface, crop_rect))
         SEND_ERROR("failed to create intermediate pixmaps");
 
     if (!gst_vaapi_surface_sync(surface))