diff --git a/libavcodec/shorten.c b/libavcodec/shorten.c
index eca0c4e85a..0ad95bf97e 100644
--- a/libavcodec/shorten.c
+++ b/libavcodec/shorten.c
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ static int decode_wave_header(AVCodecContext *avctx, const uint8_t *header,
                               int header_size)
 {
     int len, bps;
-    short wave_format;
+    uint16_t wave_format;
     GetByteContext gb;
 
     bytestream2_init(&gb, header, header_size);