diff --git a/libavutil/avstring.c b/libavutil/avstring.c
index 875eb691db..281c5cdc88 100644
--- a/libavutil/avstring.c
+++ b/libavutil/avstring.c
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ end:
 
 char *av_get_token(const char **buf, const char *term)
 {
-    char *out     = av_malloc(strlen(*buf) + 1);
+    char *out     = av_realloc(NULL, strlen(*buf) + 1);
     char *ret     = out, *end = out;
     const char *p = *buf;
     if (!out)
@@ -172,7 +172,8 @@ char *av_get_token(const char **buf, const char *term)
 
     *buf = p;
 
-    return ret;
+    char *small_ret = av_realloc(ret, out - ret + 2);
+    return small_ret ? small_ret : ret;
 }
 
 char *av_strtok(char *s, const char *delim, char **saveptr)