diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegDecoderAudio.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegDecoderAudio.cpp
index f7020fb8f..a4c0e2586 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegDecoderAudio.cpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegDecoderAudio.cpp
@@ -72,7 +72,27 @@ void FFmpegDecoderAudio::open(AVStream * const stream)
 
         m_frequency = m_context->sample_rate;
         m_nb_channels = m_context->channels;
-        m_sample_format = osg::AudioStream::SampleFormat(m_context->sample_fmt);
+        switch (m_context->sample_fmt) 
+        {
+        case AV_SAMPLE_FMT_NONE:
+            throw std::runtime_error("invalid audio format AV_SAMPLE_FMT_NONE");
+        case AV_SAMPLE_FMT_U8:
+            m_sample_format = osg::AudioStream::SAMPLE_FORMAT_U8;
+            break;
+        case AV_SAMPLE_FMT_S16:
+            m_sample_format = osg::AudioStream::SAMPLE_FORMAT_S16;
+            break;
+        case AV_SAMPLE_FMT_S32:
+            m_sample_format = osg::AudioStream::SAMPLE_FORMAT_S32;
+            break;
+        case AV_SAMPLE_FMT_FLT:
+            m_sample_format = osg::AudioStream::SAMPLE_FORMAT_F32;
+            break;
+        case AV_SAMPLE_FMT_DBL:
+            throw std::runtime_error("unhandled audio format AV_SAMPLE_FMT_DBL");
+        default:
+            throw std::runtime_error("unknown audio format");
+        }
 
         // Check stream sanity
         if (m_context->codec_id == CODEC_ID_NONE)
diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegHeaders.hpp b/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegHeaders.hpp
index 2050ad12e..3cb2a0f67 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegHeaders.hpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/ffmpeg/FFmpegHeaders.hpp
@@ -17,6 +17,16 @@ extern "C"
     #include <swscale.h>
 #endif
 
+#if LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_INT <  AV_VERSION_INT(50,38,0)
+#define AV_SAMPLE_FMT_NONE SAMPLE_FMT_NONE
+#define AV_SAMPLE_FMT_U8   SAMPLE_FMT_U8
+#define AV_SAMPLE_FMT_S16  SAMPLE_FMT_S16
+#define AV_SAMPLE_FMT_S32  SAMPLE_FMT_S32
+#define AV_SAMPLE_FMT_FLT  SAMPLE_FMT_FLT
+#define AV_SAMPLE_FMT_DBL  SAMPLE_FMT_DBL
+#define AV_SAMPLE_FMT_NB   SAMPLE_FMT_NB
+#endif
+
 }