diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/ted.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/ted.py
index 645942dfd..1555473fe 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/ted.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/ted.py
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ class TEDIE(InfoExtractor):
         http_url = None
         for format_id, resources in resources_.items():
             if format_id == 'h264':
-                for resource in resources:
+                for resource in resources or []:
                     h264_url = resource.get('file')
                     if not h264_url:
                         continue