diff --git a/libobs/obs-encoder.c b/libobs/obs-encoder.c
index 4c1465a1972142c174407fae3f0fbd050e7f5e05..9d309bb7c3b630b9f1c25f0de1b9998330d4c3c9 100644
--- a/libobs/obs-encoder.c
+++ b/libobs/obs-encoder.c
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ obs_properties_t *obs_get_encoder_properties(const char *id)
 	const struct obs_encoder_info *ei = find_encoder(id);
 	if (ei && (ei->get_properties || ei->get_properties2)) {
 		obs_data_t *defaults = get_defaults(ei);
-		obs_properties_t *properties;
+		obs_properties_t *properties = NULL;
 
 		if (ei->get_properties2) {
 			properties = ei->get_properties2(NULL, ei->type_data);