diff --git a/gst/vaapi/gstvaapiencode_h264.c b/gst/vaapi/gstvaapiencode_h264.c
index 949038c15a..f963de943f 100644
--- a/gst/vaapi/gstvaapiencode_h264.c
+++ b/gst/vaapi/gstvaapiencode_h264.c
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ _h264_byte_stream_next_nal (guint8 * buffer, guint32 len, guint32 * nal_size)
   guint32 flag = 0xFFFFFFFF;
   guint32 nal_start_len = 0;
 
-  g_assert (len >= 0 && buffer && nal_size);
+  g_assert (buffer && nal_size);
   if (len < 3) {
     *nal_size = len;
     nal_start = (len ? buffer : NULL);