diff --git a/app/main.cpp b/app/main.cpp
index 64ddc89b8..e1d30edfe 100644
--- a/app/main.cpp
+++ b/app/main.cpp
@@ -152,6 +152,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	// Set up debug handler
 	qInstallMessageHandler(olive::DebugHandler);
 
+	// Ignore SIGPIPE so that writing to a render-worker process that has
+	// already crashed/closed does not terminate the main application. QProcess
+	// will report the failure through its normal error path instead.
+	signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
+
 	// Set application metadata
 	QCoreApplication::setOrganizationName("oakvideoeditor.org");
 	QCoreApplication::setOrganizationDomain("oakvideoeditor.org");
diff --git a/app/render/renderworkerpool.cpp b/app/render/renderworkerpool.cpp
index 5e8ba6ab2..79331f50b 100644
--- a/app/render/renderworkerpool.cpp
+++ b/app/render/renderworkerpool.cpp
@@ -267,12 +267,24 @@ QString WorkerProgramPath()
 
 bool WriteControlMessage(QProcess *process, const QJsonObject &obj)
 {
+	if (!process || process->state() != QProcess::Running) {
+		return false;
+	}
+
 	const QByteArray line = QJsonDocument(obj).toJson(QJsonDocument::Compact) + '\n';
-	return process->write(line) == line.size() && process->waitForBytesWritten(5000);
+	const qint64 written = process->write(line);
+	if (written != line.size()) {
+		return false;
+	}
+	return process->waitForBytesWritten(5000);
 }
 
 void TryWriteControlMessage(QProcess *process, const QJsonObject &obj)
 {
+	if (!process || process->state() != QProcess::Running) {
+		return;
+	}
+
 	const QByteArray line = QJsonDocument(obj).toJson(QJsonDocument::Compact) + '\n';
 	process->write(line);
 }