diff --git a/warc-dump-responses.c b/warc-dump-responses.c
index 7cb6972..b4cfe14 100644
--- a/warc-dump-responses.c
+++ b/warc-dump-responses.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
 	char* m0;
 	char* m1;
 	char* eoh;
-	size_t record_bytes_read;
+	size_t record_bytes_read = 0;
 	size_t record_length;
 	long int nscan;
 	bool meta = false;