diff --git a/libavformat/hlsenc.c b/libavformat/hlsenc.c
index e1f96feda3..871afb571b 100644
--- a/libavformat/hlsenc.c
+++ b/libavformat/hlsenc.c
@@ -2947,7 +2947,7 @@ static int hls_init(AVFormatContext *s)
         av_log(hls, AV_LOG_DEBUG, "start_number evaluated to %"PRId64"\n", hls->start_sequence);
     }
 
-    hls->recording_time = hls->init_time ? hls->init_time : hls->time;
+    hls->recording_time = hls->init_time && hls->max_nb_segments > 0 ? hls->init_time : hls->time;
 
     if (hls->flags & HLS_SPLIT_BY_TIME && hls->flags & HLS_INDEPENDENT_SEGMENTS) {
         // Independent segments cannot be guaranteed when splitting by time