diff --git a/fftools/ffmpeg_demux.c b/fftools/ffmpeg_demux.c
index bec6886057..bea1db5ff3 100644
--- a/fftools/ffmpeg_demux.c
+++ b/fftools/ffmpeg_demux.c
@@ -1929,6 +1929,11 @@ int ifile_open(const OptionsContext *o, const char *filename, Scheduler *sch)
         }
     }
 
+    if (recording_time != INT64_MAX && recording_time < 0) {
+        av_log(d, AV_LOG_ERROR, "-t value must be non-negative; aborting.\n");
+        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
+    }
+
     if (o->format) {
         if (!(file_iformat = av_find_input_format(o->format))) {
             av_log(d, AV_LOG_FATAL, "Unknown input format: '%s'\n", o->format);
diff --git a/fftools/ffmpeg_mux_init.c b/fftools/ffmpeg_mux_init.c
index 09e241a0ff..35d3f10bb4 100644
--- a/fftools/ffmpeg_mux_init.c
+++ b/fftools/ffmpeg_mux_init.c
@@ -3377,6 +3377,11 @@ int of_open(const OptionsContext *o, const char *filename, Scheduler *sch)
         }
     }
 
+    if (recording_time != INT64_MAX && recording_time < 0) {
+        av_log(mux, AV_LOG_ERROR, "-t value must be non-negative; aborting.\n");
+        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
+    }
+
     of->recording_time = recording_time;
     of->start_time     = o->start_time;
 
diff --git a/tests/fate/ffmpeg.mak b/tests/fate/ffmpeg.mak
index cd00275638..e1a43df169 100644
--- a/tests/fate/ffmpeg.mak
+++ b/tests/fate/ffmpeg.mak
@@ -267,6 +267,20 @@ fate-ffmpeg-streamcopy-t: CMD = ffmpeg
     -c copy -f null -t 1 -
 FATE_FFMPEG-$(call REMUX, RAWVIDEO, NULL_MUXER) += fate-ffmpeg-streamcopy-t
 
+fate-ffmpeg-negative-t: tests/data/vsynth1.yuv
+fate-ffmpeg-negative-t: CMP = null
+fate-ffmpeg-negative-t: CMD = ffmpeg                                                               \
+    -stream_loop -1 -f rawvideo -s 352x288 -pix_fmt yuv420p -i $(TARGET_PATH)/tests/data/vsynth1.yuv \
+    -c copy -f null -t -1 -; test $$? -ne 0
+FATE_FFMPEG-$(call REMUX, RAWVIDEO, NULL_MUXER) += fate-ffmpeg-negative-t
+
+fate-ffmpeg-negative-input-t: tests/data/vsynth1.yuv
+fate-ffmpeg-negative-input-t: CMP = null
+fate-ffmpeg-negative-input-t: CMD = ffmpeg                                                        \
+    -stream_loop -1 -f rawvideo -s 352x288 -pix_fmt yuv420p -t -1 -i $(TARGET_PATH)/tests/data/vsynth1.yuv \
+    -c copy -f null -; test $$? -ne 0
+FATE_FFMPEG-$(call REMUX, RAWVIDEO, NULL_MUXER) += fate-ffmpeg-negative-input-t
+
 # Test loopback decoding and passing the output to a complex graph.
 fate-ffmpeg-loopback-decoding: tests/data/vsynth1.yuv
 fate-ffmpeg-loopback-decoding: CMD = transcode \