diff --git a/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c b/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c
index 2f6f2fd9be..3bb5047583 100644
--- a/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c
+++ b/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c
@@ -390,6 +390,7 @@ static int can_merge_formats(AVFilterFormats *a_arg,
     }
     if (ret) {
         av_freep(&ret->formats);
+        av_freep(&ret->refs);
         av_freep(&ret);
         return 1;
     } else {