diff --git a/libavcodec/vqavideo.c b/libavcodec/vqavideo.c
index 99c86a4610..14caba1d02 100644
--- a/libavcodec/vqavideo.c
+++ b/libavcodec/vqavideo.c
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ static av_cold int vqa_decode_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
 
     /* allocate codebooks */
     s->codebook_size = MAX_CODEBOOK_SIZE;
-    s->codebook = av_malloc(s->codebook_size);
+    s->codebook = av_mallocz(s->codebook_size);
     if (!s->codebook)
         return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
     s->next_codebook_buffer = av_malloc(s->codebook_size);