diff --git a/libavdevice/pulse_audio_dec.c b/libavdevice/pulse_audio_dec.c
index 01ff6d1711..a7b0e5d8c1 100644
--- a/libavdevice/pulse_audio_dec.c
+++ b/libavdevice/pulse_audio_dec.c
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ static av_cold int pulse_read_header(AVFormatContext *s)
 
     attr.fragsize = pd->fragment_size;
 
-    if (strcmp(s->filename, "default"))
+    if (s->filename[0] != '\0' && strcmp(s->filename, "default"))
         device = s->filename;
 
     if (!(pd->mainloop = pa_threaded_mainloop_new())) {