diff --git a/audio/out/ao_avfoundation.m b/audio/out/ao_avfoundation.m
index b8fff08036fea..9b6511afc2686 100644
--- a/audio/out/ao_avfoundation.m
+++ b/audio/out/ao_avfoundation.m
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ static void feed(struct ao *ao)
     if (real_sample_count == 0) {
         // in this case, we must satisfy renderer to avoid spining
         real_sample_count = ao_read_data(ao, data, request_sample_count, p->end_time_mp);
+        if (real_sample_count == 0) {
+            // ao_read_data may still return zero?
+            real_sample_count = request_sample_count;
+        }
     }
 
     CMSampleTimingInfo sample_timing_into[] = {(CMSampleTimingInfo) {