diff --git a/daemon/recording.c b/daemon/recording.c
index 0e6d6a956..0b6d9e854 100644
--- a/daemon/recording.c
+++ b/daemon/recording.c
@@ -835,6 +835,9 @@ static int vappend_meta_chunk(struct recording *recording, const char *buf, unsi
 		const char *label_fmt, va_list ap)
 {
 	struct iovec iov;
+	if (!recording->proc.meta_filepath)
+		return -1;
+
 	iov.iov_base = (void *) buf;
 	iov.iov_len = buflen;