diff --git a/libavcodec/lagarith.c b/libavcodec/lagarith.c
index e632f1a580..2a0981d2df 100644
--- a/libavcodec/lagarith.c
+++ b/libavcodec/lagarith.c
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ output_zeros:
             src += i;
         }
     }
-    return start - src;
+    return  src - start;
 }