diff --git a/media/libcubeb/src/cubeb_opensl.c b/media/libcubeb/src/cubeb_opensl.c
index e0fb6fc9b979..c2d5c8e86d16 100644
--- a/media/libcubeb/src/cubeb_opensl.c
+++ b/media/libcubeb/src/cubeb_opensl.c
@@ -275,6 +275,14 @@ opensl_get_preferred_sample_rate(cubeb * ctx, uint32_t * rate)
 
   dlclose(libmedia);
 
+  /* Depending on which method we called above, we can get a zero back, yet have
+   * a non-error return value, especially if the audio system is not
+   * ready/shutting down (i.e. when we can't get our hand on the AudioFlinger
+   * thread). */
+  if (rate == 0) {
+    return CUBEB_ERROR;
+  }
+
   return CUBEB_OK;
 }