diff --git a/libavformat/nutenc.c b/libavformat/nutenc.c
index b5c5c7e532..4756ca2a1a 100644
--- a/libavformat/nutenc.c
+++ b/libavformat/nutenc.c
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ static int write_header(AVFormatContext *s){
     nut->chapter  = av_mallocz(sizeof(ChapterContext)*s->nb_chapters);
     nut->time_base= av_mallocz(sizeof(AVRational   )*(s->nb_streams +
                                                       s->nb_chapters));
-    if (!nut->stream || (s->nb_chapters && !nut->chapter) || !nut->time_base) {
+    if (!nut->stream || !nut->chapter || !nut->time_base) {
         av_freep(&nut->stream);
         av_freep(&nut->chapter);
         av_freep(&nut->time_base);