diff --git a/libavformat/subviewerdec.c b/libavformat/subviewerdec.c
index 9bb7728407..2ef3c088eb 100644
--- a/libavformat/subviewerdec.c
+++ b/libavformat/subviewerdec.c
@@ -176,8 +176,6 @@ static int subviewer_read_header(AVFormatContext *s)
     ff_subtitles_queue_finalize(s, &subviewer->q);
 
 end:
-    if (res < 0)
-        ff_subtitles_queue_clean(&subviewer->q);
     av_bprint_finalize(&header, NULL);
     return res;
 }
@@ -207,6 +205,7 @@ const AVInputFormat ff_subviewer_demuxer = {
     .name           = "subviewer",
     .long_name      = NULL_IF_CONFIG_SMALL("SubViewer subtitle format"),
     .priv_data_size = sizeof(SubViewerContext),
+    .flags_internal = FF_FMT_INIT_CLEANUP,
     .read_probe     = subviewer_probe,
     .read_header    = subviewer_read_header,
     .read_packet    = subviewer_read_packet,