diff --git a/libavformat/matroskadec.c b/libavformat/matroskadec.c
index e957117207..100e697089 100644
--- a/libavformat/matroskadec.c
+++ b/libavformat/matroskadec.c
@@ -1509,8 +1509,8 @@ static void matroska_metadata_creation_time(AVDictionary **metadata, int64_t dat
     time_t creation_time = date_utc / 1000000000 + 978307200;
     struct tm *ptm = gmtime(&creation_time);
     if (!ptm) return;
-    strftime(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", ptm);
-    av_dict_set(metadata, "creation_time", buffer, 0);
+    if (strftime(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", ptm))
+        av_dict_set(metadata, "creation_time", buffer, 0);
 }
 
 static int matroska_parse_flac(AVFormatContext *s,