diff --git a/src/api-impl-jni/media/android_media_MediaCodec.c b/src/api-impl-jni/media/android_media_MediaCodec.c
index a44b7c0a..20133a97 100644
--- a/src/api-impl-jni/media/android_media_MediaCodec.c
+++ b/src/api-impl-jni/media/android_media_MediaCodec.c
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ JNIEXPORT jlong JNICALL Java_android_media_MediaCodec_native_1constructor(JNIEnv
 	const char *name = (*env)->GetStringUTFChars(env, codec_name, NULL);
 	const AVCodec *codec = avcodec_find_decoder_by_name(name);
 	(*env)->ReleaseStringUTFChars(env, codec_name, name);
+	if (!codec)
+		return 0;
 	AVCodecContext *codec_ctx = avcodec_alloc_context3(codec);
 
 	struct ATL_codec_context *ctx = calloc(1, sizeof(struct ATL_codec_context));
diff --git a/src/api-impl/android/media/MediaCodec.java b/src/api-impl/android/media/MediaCodec.java
index 5f64a92a..534cdf58 100644
--- a/src/api-impl/android/media/MediaCodec.java
+++ b/src/api-impl/android/media/MediaCodec.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package android.media;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.ByteOrder;
 import java.util.ArrayDeque;
@@ -20,9 +21,12 @@ public class MediaCodec {
 	private Queue<Integer> queuedInputBuffers;
 	private Queue<Integer> freeInputBuffers;
 
-	private MediaCodec(String codecName) {
+	private MediaCodec(String codecName) throws IOException {
 		this.codecName = codecName;
 		native_codec = native_constructor(codecName);
+		if (native_codec == 0) {
+			throw new IOException("Unable to create MediaCodec: " + codecName);
+		}
 		inputBuffers = new ByteBuffer[1];
 		inputBufferTimestamps = new long[inputBuffers.length];
 		freeInputBuffers = new ArrayDeque<>(inputBuffers.length);
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ public class MediaCodec {
 		}
 	}
 
-	public static MediaCodec createByCodecName(String codecName) {
+	public static MediaCodec createByCodecName(String codecName) throws IOException {
 		return new MediaCodec(codecName);
 	}