diff --git a/libavcodec/wavpack.c b/libavcodec/wavpack.c
index 22a2c83a30e731bed38eacb5dc1674cbc486ca79..8306ec020f5455ae6cdaacc0b2dea04cd787076f 100644
--- a/libavcodec/wavpack.c
+++ b/libavcodec/wavpack.c
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ typedef struct WavpackContext {
 
 #define LEVEL_DECAY(a)  (((a) + 0x80) >> 8)
 
-static av_always_inline int get_tail(GetBitContext *gb, int k)
+static av_always_inline unsigned get_tail(GetBitContext *gb, int k)
 {
     int p, e, res;