diff --git a/libavcodec/libvpxenc.c b/libavcodec/libvpxenc.c
index ed038abc9e..04ea031e55 100644
--- a/libavcodec/libvpxenc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/libvpxenc.c
@@ -289,6 +289,16 @@ static av_cold int vpx_init(AVCodecContext *avctx,
         enccfg.rc_min_quantizer = avctx->qmin;
     if (avctx->qmax > 0)
         enccfg.rc_max_quantizer = avctx->qmax;
+
+    if (enccfg.rc_end_usage == VPX_CQ) {
+        if (ctx->crf < enccfg.rc_min_quantizer || ctx->crf > enccfg.rc_max_quantizer) {
+                av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR,
+                       "CQ level must be between minimum and maximum quantizer value (%d-%d)\n",
+                       enccfg.rc_min_quantizer, enccfg.rc_max_quantizer);
+                return AVERROR(EINVAL);
+        }
+    }
+
     enccfg.rc_dropframe_thresh = avctx->frame_skip_threshold;
 
     //0-100 (0 => CBR, 100 => VBR)