diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index 4e2e897349..79c2bf10e2 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -1800,14 +1800,13 @@ typedef struct AVCodecContext {
      */
     attribute_deprecated
     int me_threshold;
-#endif
 
     /**
-     * Macroblock threshold below which the user specified macroblock types will be used.
-     * - encoding: Set by user.
-     * - decoding: unused
+     * @deprecated this field is unused
      */
+    attribute_deprecated
     int mb_threshold;
+#endif
 
     /**
      * precision of the intra DC coefficient - 8
diff --git a/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c b/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
index 4b926a5e7d..1b4dcf1050 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
@@ -640,13 +640,6 @@ av_cold int ff_mpv_encode_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
         return -1;
     }
 
-    i = (INT_MAX / 2 + 128) >> 8;
-    if (avctx->mb_threshold >= i) {
-        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "mb_threshold too large, max is %d\n",
-               i - 1);
-        return -1;
-    }
-
     if (avctx->b_frame_strategy && (avctx->flags & CODEC_FLAG_PASS2)) {
         av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_INFO,
                "notice: b_frame_strategy only affects the first pass\n");
diff --git a/libavcodec/options_table.h b/libavcodec/options_table.h
index c019027d64..f221fe9059 100644
--- a/libavcodec/options_table.h
+++ b/libavcodec/options_table.h
@@ -336,8 +336,8 @@ static const AVOption avcodec_options[] = {
 {"auto", "autodetect a suitable number of threads to use", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = 0 }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E|D, "threads"},
 #if FF_API_MPV_OPT
 {"me_threshold", "motion estimation threshold", OFFSET(me_threshold), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = DEFAULT }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},
-#endif
 {"mb_threshold", "macroblock threshold", OFFSET(mb_threshold), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = DEFAULT }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},
+#endif
 {"dc", "intra_dc_precision", OFFSET(intra_dc_precision), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 0 }, -8, 16, V|E},
 {"nssew", "nsse weight", OFFSET(nsse_weight), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 8 }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},
 {"skip_top", "number of macroblock rows at the top which are skipped", OFFSET(skip_top), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = DEFAULT }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|D},