diff --git a/src/audio/codec/libavcodec.cpp b/src/audio/codec/libavcodec.cpp
index 7ae5fc379..6dc4a4e54 100644
--- a/src/audio/codec/libavcodec.cpp
+++ b/src/audio/codec/libavcodec.cpp
@@ -329,8 +329,10 @@ static bool reinitialize_coder(struct libavcodec_codec_state *s, struct audio_de
 
         pthread_mutex_lock(s->libav_global_lock);
         /* open it */
-        if (avcodec_open2(s->codec_ctx, s->codec, NULL) < 0) {
-                fprintf(stderr, "Could not open codec\n");
+        if (int ret = 0; (ret = avcodec_open2(s->codec_ctx, s->codec, nullptr)) < 0) {
+                array<char, ERR_MSG_BUF_LEN> errbuf{};
+                av_strerror(ret, errbuf.data(), errbuf.size());
+                LOG(LOG_LEVEL_ERROR) << MOD_NAME << "Could not open codec: " << errbuf.data() << "(" << ret << ")\n";
                 pthread_mutex_unlock(s->libav_global_lock);
                 return false;
         }