diff --git a/libavfilter/vf_scale.c b/libavfilter/vf_scale.c
index 4ba7e9f6b7..ef5c3c35e9 100644
--- a/libavfilter/vf_scale.c
+++ b/libavfilter/vf_scale.c
@@ -128,10 +128,6 @@ static int config_props(AVFilterLink *outlink)
     outlink->h = h;
 
     /* TODO: make algorithm configurable */
-    scale->sws = sws_getContext(inlink ->w, inlink ->h, inlink ->format,
-                                outlink->w, outlink->h, outlink->format,
-                                scale->flags, NULL, NULL, NULL);
-
     av_log(ctx, AV_LOG_INFO, "w:%d h:%d fmt:%s -> w:%d h:%d fmt:%s flags:%0x\n",
            inlink ->w, inlink ->h, av_pix_fmt_descriptors[ inlink->format].name,
            outlink->w, outlink->h, av_pix_fmt_descriptors[outlink->format].name,
@@ -139,6 +135,10 @@ static int config_props(AVFilterLink *outlink)
 
     scale->input_is_pal = av_pix_fmt_descriptors[inlink->format].flags & PIX_FMT_PAL;
 
+    scale->sws = sws_getContext(inlink ->w, inlink ->h, inlink ->format,
+                                outlink->w, outlink->h, outlink->format,
+                                scale->flags, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+
     return !scale->sws;
 }