diff --git a/libavformat/hls.c b/libavformat/hls.c
index e17cb23897..1b9f7d9e12 100644
--- a/libavformat/hls.c
+++ b/libavformat/hls.c
@@ -2397,7 +2397,7 @@ static const AVOption hls_options[] = {
         {.str = "3gp,aac,avi,ac3,eac3,flac,mkv,m3u8,m4a,m4s,m4v,mpg,mov,mp2,mp3,mp4,mpeg,mpegts,ogg,ogv,oga,ts,vob,wav"},
         INT_MIN, INT_MAX, FLAGS},
     {"max_reload", "Maximum number of times a insufficient list is attempted to be reloaded",
-        OFFSET(max_reload), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 1000}, 0, INT_MAX, FLAGS},
+        OFFSET(max_reload), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 3}, 0, INT_MAX, FLAGS},
     {"m3u8_hold_counters", "The maximum number of times to load m3u8 when it refreshes without new segments",
         OFFSET(m3u8_hold_counters), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 1000}, 0, INT_MAX, FLAGS},
     {"http_persistent", "Use persistent HTTP connections",