diff --git a/libavcodec/vaapi_encode.c b/libavcodec/vaapi_encode.c
index 6766641ac7..4544090bcc 100644
--- a/libavcodec/vaapi_encode.c
+++ b/libavcodec/vaapi_encode.c
@@ -1908,9 +1908,6 @@ static av_cold int vaapi_encode_init_row_slice_structure(AVCodecContext *avctx,
         req_slices = avctx->slices;
     }
     if (slice_structure & VA_ENC_SLICE_STRUCTURE_ARBITRARY_ROWS ||
-#if VA_CHECK_VERSION(1, 8, 0)
-        slice_structure & VA_ENC_SLICE_STRUCTURE_EQUAL_MULTI_ROWS ||
-#endif
         slice_structure & VA_ENC_SLICE_STRUCTURE_ARBITRARY_MACROBLOCKS) {
         ctx->nb_slices  = req_slices;
         ctx->slice_size = ctx->slice_block_rows / ctx->nb_slices;