diff --git a/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper.java b/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper.java
index 5a54e904ad..09f78a58f4 100644
--- a/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper.java
+++ b/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper.java
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ class SurfaceTextureHelper {
 
   /**
    * Construct a new SurfaceTextureHelper sharing OpenGL resources with |sharedContext|. A dedicated
-   * thread and handler is created for handling the SurfaceTexture.
+   * thread and handler is created for handling the SurfaceTexture. May return null if EGL fails to
+   * initialize a pixel buffer surface and make it current.
    */
   public static SurfaceTextureHelper create(
       final String threadName, final EglBase.Context sharedContext) {
@@ -65,7 +66,12 @@ class SurfaceTextureHelper {
     return ThreadUtils.invokeUninterruptibly(handler, new Callable<SurfaceTextureHelper>() {
       @Override
       public SurfaceTextureHelper call() {
-        return new SurfaceTextureHelper(sharedContext, handler);
+        try {
+          return new SurfaceTextureHelper(sharedContext, handler);
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+          Logging.e(TAG, threadName + " create failure", e);
+          return null;
+        }
       }
     });
   }
@@ -315,8 +321,16 @@ class SurfaceTextureHelper {
     this.handler = handler;
 
     eglBase = EglBase.create(sharedContext, EglBase.CONFIG_PIXEL_BUFFER);
-    eglBase.createDummyPbufferSurface();
-    eglBase.makeCurrent();
+    try {
+      // Both these statements have been observed to fail on rare occasions, see BUG=webrtc:5682.
+      eglBase.createDummyPbufferSurface();
+      eglBase.makeCurrent();
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      // Clean up before rethrowing the exception.
+      eglBase.release();
+      handler.getLooper().quit();
+      throw e;
+    }
 
     oesTextureId = GlUtil.generateTexture(GLES11Ext.GL_TEXTURE_EXTERNAL_OES);
     surfaceTexture = new SurfaceTexture(oesTextureId);
diff --git a/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/VideoCapturerAndroid.java b/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/VideoCapturerAndroid.java
index e4f2449cb9..39ed12cfa3 100644
--- a/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/VideoCapturerAndroid.java
+++ b/webrtc/api/java/android/org/webrtc/VideoCapturerAndroid.java
@@ -369,7 +369,11 @@ public class VideoCapturerAndroid implements
       final CapturerObserver frameObserver) {
     Logging.d(TAG, "startCapture requested: " + width + "x" + height + "@" + framerate);
     if (surfaceTextureHelper == null) {
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException("surfaceTextureHelper not set.");
+      frameObserver.onCapturerStarted(false /* success */);
+      if (eventsHandler != null) {
+        eventsHandler.onCameraError("No SurfaceTexture created.");
+      }
+      return;
     }
     if (applicationContext == null) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("applicationContext not set.");
diff --git a/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidmediadecoder_jni.cc b/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidmediadecoder_jni.cc
index a0e5579c37..11c8d66f20 100644
--- a/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidmediadecoder_jni.cc
+++ b/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidmediadecoder_jni.cc
@@ -345,8 +345,13 @@ int32_t MediaCodecVideoDecoder::InitDecodeOnCodecThread() {
   ResetVariables();
 
   if (use_surface_) {
-    surface_texture_helper_ = new rtc::RefCountedObject<SurfaceTextureHelper>(
+    surface_texture_helper_ = SurfaceTextureHelper::create(
         jni, "Decoder SurfaceTextureHelper", render_egl_context_);
+    if (!surface_texture_helper_) {
+      ALOGE << "Couldn't create SurfaceTextureHelper - fallback to SW codec";
+      sw_fallback_required_ = true;
+      return WEBRTC_VIDEO_CODEC_ERROR;
+    }
   }
 
   jobject j_video_codec_enum = JavaEnumFromIndexAndClassName(
diff --git a/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidvideocapturer_jni.cc b/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidvideocapturer_jni.cc
index 7165350e7d..615fcb32d8 100644
--- a/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidvideocapturer_jni.cc
+++ b/webrtc/api/java/jni/androidvideocapturer_jni.cc
@@ -30,18 +30,16 @@ int AndroidVideoCapturerJni::SetAndroidObjects(JNIEnv* jni,
   return 0;
 }
 
-AndroidVideoCapturerJni::AndroidVideoCapturerJni(
-    JNIEnv* jni,
-    jobject j_video_capturer,
-    jobject j_egl_context)
+AndroidVideoCapturerJni::AndroidVideoCapturerJni(JNIEnv* jni,
+                                                 jobject j_video_capturer,
+                                                 jobject j_egl_context)
     : j_video_capturer_(jni, j_video_capturer),
-      j_video_capturer_class_(
-          jni, FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/VideoCapturer")),
+      j_video_capturer_class_(jni, FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/VideoCapturer")),
       j_observer_class_(
           jni,
           FindClass(jni,
                     "org/webrtc/VideoCapturer$NativeObserver")),
-      surface_texture_helper_(new rtc::RefCountedObject<SurfaceTextureHelper>(
+      surface_texture_helper_(SurfaceTextureHelper::create(
           jni, "Camera SurfaceTextureHelper", j_egl_context)),
       capturer_(nullptr) {
   LOG(LS_INFO) << "AndroidVideoCapturerJni ctor";
@@ -54,10 +52,12 @@ AndroidVideoCapturerJni::~AndroidVideoCapturerJni() {
       *j_video_capturer_,
       GetMethodID(jni(), *j_video_capturer_class_, "dispose", "()V"));
   CHECK_EXCEPTION(jni()) << "error during VideoCapturer.dispose()";
-  jni()->CallVoidMethod(
-      surface_texture_helper_->GetJavaSurfaceTextureHelper(),
-      GetMethodID(jni(), FindClass(jni(), "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
-                  "dispose", "()V"));
+  if (surface_texture_helper_) {
+    jni()->CallVoidMethod(
+        surface_texture_helper_->GetJavaSurfaceTextureHelper(),
+        GetMethodID(jni(), FindClass(jni(), "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
+                    "dispose", "()V"));
+  }
   CHECK_EXCEPTION(jni()) << "error during SurfaceTextureHelper.dispose()";
 }
 
@@ -82,12 +82,12 @@ void AndroidVideoCapturerJni::Start(int width, int height, int framerate,
       jni(), *j_video_capturer_class_, "startCapture",
       "(IIILorg/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper;Landroid/content/Context;"
       "Lorg/webrtc/VideoCapturer$CapturerObserver;)V");
-  jni()->CallVoidMethod(*j_video_capturer_,
-                        m, width, height,
-                        framerate,
-                        surface_texture_helper_->GetJavaSurfaceTextureHelper(),
-                        application_context_,
-                        j_frame_observer);
+  jni()->CallVoidMethod(
+      *j_video_capturer_, m, width, height, framerate,
+      surface_texture_helper_
+          ? surface_texture_helper_->GetJavaSurfaceTextureHelper()
+          : nullptr,
+      application_context_, j_frame_observer);
   CHECK_EXCEPTION(jni()) << "error during VideoCapturer.startCapture";
 }
 
diff --git a/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.cc b/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.cc
index 97d05f82f1..04623a791d 100644
--- a/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.cc
+++ b/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.cc
@@ -17,21 +17,33 @@
 
 namespace webrtc_jni {
 
-SurfaceTextureHelper::SurfaceTextureHelper(
-    JNIEnv* jni, const char* thread_name, jobject j_egl_context)
-  : j_surface_texture_helper_(jni, jni->CallStaticObjectMethod(
-        FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
-        GetStaticMethodID(jni,
-                          FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
-                          "create",
-                          "(Ljava/lang/String;Lorg/webrtc/EglBase$Context;)"
-                          "Lorg/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper;"),
-        jni->NewStringUTF(thread_name), j_egl_context)),
-    j_return_texture_method_(
-        GetMethodID(jni,
-                    FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
-                    "returnTextureFrame",
-                    "()V")) {
+rtc::scoped_refptr<SurfaceTextureHelper> SurfaceTextureHelper::create(
+    JNIEnv* jni,
+    const char* thread_name,
+    jobject j_egl_context) {
+  jobject j_surface_texture_helper = jni->CallStaticObjectMethod(
+      FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
+      GetStaticMethodID(jni, FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
+                        "create",
+                        "(Ljava/lang/String;Lorg/webrtc/EglBase$Context;)"
+                        "Lorg/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper;"),
+      jni->NewStringUTF(thread_name), j_egl_context);
+  CHECK_EXCEPTION(jni)
+      << "error during initialization of Java SurfaceTextureHelper";
+  if (IsNull(jni, j_surface_texture_helper))
+    return nullptr;
+  return new rtc::RefCountedObject<SurfaceTextureHelper>(
+      jni, j_surface_texture_helper);
+}
+
+SurfaceTextureHelper::SurfaceTextureHelper(JNIEnv* jni,
+                                           jobject j_surface_texture_helper)
+    : j_surface_texture_helper_(jni, j_surface_texture_helper),
+      j_return_texture_method_(
+          GetMethodID(jni,
+                      FindClass(jni, "org/webrtc/SurfaceTextureHelper"),
+                      "returnTextureFrame",
+                      "()V")) {
   CHECK_EXCEPTION(jni) << "error during initialization of SurfaceTextureHelper";
 }
 
diff --git a/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.h b/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.h
index 849c66b5dd..d7a9a7707a 100644
--- a/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.h
+++ b/webrtc/api/java/jni/surfacetexturehelper_jni.h
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ namespace webrtc_jni {
 // 4. Call CreateTextureFrame to wrap the Java texture in a VideoFrameBuffer.
 class SurfaceTextureHelper : public rtc::RefCountInterface {
  public:
-  SurfaceTextureHelper(JNIEnv* jni,
-                       const char* thread_name,
-                       jobject j_egl_context);
+  // Might return null if creating the Java SurfaceTextureHelper fails.
+  static rtc::scoped_refptr<SurfaceTextureHelper> create(
+      JNIEnv* jni, const char* thread_name, jobject j_egl_context);
 
   jobject GetJavaSurfaceTextureHelper() const;
 
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ class SurfaceTextureHelper : public rtc::RefCountInterface {
 
  protected:
   ~SurfaceTextureHelper();
+  SurfaceTextureHelper(JNIEnv* jni, jobject j_surface_texture_helper);
 
  private:
   //  May be called on arbitrary thread.