diff --git a/libavformat/rawdec.c b/libavformat/rawdec.c
index 02e335ad1b..d4383d5b49 100644
--- a/libavformat/rawdec.c
+++ b/libavformat/rawdec.c
@@ -60,9 +60,9 @@ int ff_raw_read_header(AVFormatContext *s, AVFormatParameters *ap)
             if (s1->sample_rate)
                 st->codec->sample_rate = s1->sample_rate;
             if (st->codec->sample_rate <= 0) {
-                av_log(s, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Invalid sample rate %d specified\n",
+                av_log(s, AV_LOG_WARNING, "Invalid sample rate %d specified using default of 44100\n",
                        st->codec->sample_rate);
-                return AVERROR(EINVAL);
+                st->codec->sample_rate= 44100;
             }
 
             if (s1->channels)