diff --git a/doc/examples/vaapi_transcode.c b/doc/examples/vaapi_transcode.c
index 279d20f636..812c96f5b7 100644
--- a/doc/examples/vaapi_transcode.c
+++ b/doc/examples/vaapi_transcode.c
@@ -221,10 +221,8 @@ static int dec_enc(AVPacket *pkt, AVCodec *enc_codec)
 
 fail:
         av_frame_free(&frame);
-        if (ret < 0)
-            return ret;
     }
-    return 0;
+    return ret;
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv)