diff --git a/pdf.c b/pdf.c
index fb2f74019aa85191a06c87dc282c011ea7c45769..80a196c19f806641565239d41b0dfac2cb67e073 100644
--- a/pdf.c
+++ b/pdf.c
@@ -1170,7 +1170,7 @@ act_rldstring(const HParseResult *p, void *u)
 	}
 	else
 	{
-		return NULL;
+		return H_MAKE_BYTES(NULL, 0);
 	}
 }