diff --git a/libcelt/celt.c b/libcelt/celt.c
index acb81adc4668bac4014d2a5729947932896d61cf..8a721ea51889bdc7905a9b659677a1821c3e0fb7 100644
--- a/libcelt/celt.c
+++ b/libcelt/celt.c
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ CELTEncoder *celt_encoder_init_custom(CELTEncoder *st, const CELTMode *mode, int
    st->constrained_vbr = 1;
    st->clip = 1;
 
-   st->bitrate = 255000*channels;
+   st->bitrate = -1;
    st->vbr = 0;
    st->vbr_offset = 0;
    st->force_intra  = 0;