diff --git a/libavformat/mpeg.c b/libavformat/mpeg.c
index df37692f12..c33401f1a0 100644
--- a/libavformat/mpeg.c
+++ b/libavformat/mpeg.c
@@ -905,9 +905,9 @@ static int vobsub_read_header(AVFormatContext *s)
         }
         sub_st->codecpar->extradata_size = header.len;
     }
-    av_free(header_str);
-
 end:
+
+    av_free(header_str);
     return ret;
 }