diff --git a/src/add-ons/media/plugins/ffmpeg/AVFormatWriter.cpp b/src/add-ons/media/plugins/ffmpeg/AVFormatWriter.cpp
index 3fc7df357e..61e4c14a77 100644
--- a/src/add-ons/media/plugins/ffmpeg/AVFormatWriter.cpp
+++ b/src/add-ons/media/plugins/ffmpeg/AVFormatWriter.cpp
@@ -106,13 +106,14 @@ AVFormatWriter::StreamCookie::Init(media_format* format,
 
 	fPacket.stream_index = fFormatContext->nb_streams;
 	fStream = avformat_new_stream(fFormatContext, NULL);
-	fStream->id = fPacket.stream_index;
 
 	if (fStream == NULL) {
 		TRACE("  failed to add new stream\n");
 		return B_ERROR;
 	}
 
+	fStream->id = fPacket.stream_index;
+
 //	TRACE("  fStream->codecpar: %p\n", fStream->codecpar);
 	// TODO: This is a hack for now! Use avcodec_find_encoder_by_name()
 	// or something similar...