diff --git a/libavcodec/movtextenc.c b/libavcodec/movtextenc.c
index f38cd9cba2..56781af1f8 100644
--- a/libavcodec/movtextenc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/movtextenc.c
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ static int encode_sample_description(AVCodecContext *avctx)
     ASS * ass;
     ASSStyle * style;
     int i, j;
-    uint32_t tsmb_size, tsmb_type, back_color, style_color;
+    uint32_t tsmb_size, tsmb_type, back_color = 0, style_color;
     uint16_t style_start, style_end, fontID, count;
     int font_names_total_len = 0;
     MovTextContext *s = avctx->priv_data;