diff --git a/src/vrend_decode.c b/src/vrend_decode.c
index cab3956..11ac1ed 100644
--- a/src/vrend_decode.c
+++ b/src/vrend_decode.c
@@ -1093,6 +1093,11 @@ void vrend_renderer_context_destroy(uint32_t handle)
    if (handle >= VREND_MAX_CTX)
       return;
 
+   /* never destroy context 0 here, it will be destroyed in vrend_decode_reset()*/
+   if (handle == 0) {
+      return;
+   }
+
    ctx = dec_ctx[handle];
    if (!ctx)
       return;