diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index 1d6d34b500..bb9d543b92 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -15,6 +15,13 @@ libavutil:     2011-04-18
 
 API changes, most recent first:
 
+2012-10-21 - xxxxxxx - lavc  54.68.100 - avcodec.h
+                       lavfi  3.20.100 - avfilter.h
+  Add AV_PKT_DATA_STRINGS_METADATA side data type, used to transmit key/value
+  strings between AVPacket and AVFrame, and add metadata field to
+  AVCodecContext (which shall not be accessed by users; see AVFrame metadata
+  instead).
+
 2012-09-27 - a70b493 - lavd 54.3.100 - version.h
   Add LIBAVDEVICE_IDENT symbol.
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index 0b3a19af19..3936d5e1c0 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -942,6 +942,12 @@ enum AVPacketSideDataType {
      * @endcode
      */
     AV_PKT_DATA_JP_DUALMONO,
+
+    /**
+     * A list of zero terminated key/value strings. There is no end marker for
+     * the list, so it is required to rely on the side data size to stop.
+     */
+    AV_PKT_DATA_STRINGS_METADATA,
 };
 
 typedef struct AVPacket {
@@ -3091,6 +3097,13 @@ typedef struct AVCodecContext {
     int64_t pts_correction_num_faulty_dts; /// Number of incorrect DTS values so far
     int64_t pts_correction_last_pts;       /// PTS of the last frame
     int64_t pts_correction_last_dts;       /// DTS of the last frame
+
+    /**
+     * Current frame metadata.
+     * - decoding: maintained and used by libavcodec, not intended to be used by user apps
+     * - encoding: unused
+     */
+    AVDictionary *metadata;
 } AVCodecContext;
 
 AVRational av_codec_get_pkt_timebase         (const AVCodecContext *avctx);
diff --git a/libavcodec/tiff.c b/libavcodec/tiff.c
index 1f9a029556..34dd42dbf0 100644
--- a/libavcodec/tiff.c
+++ b/libavcodec/tiff.c
@@ -1018,8 +1018,9 @@ static int decode_frame(AVCodecContext *avctx,
     s->compr = TIFF_RAW;
     s->fill_order = 0;
     free_geotags(s);
-    /* free existing metadata */
-    av_dict_free(&s->picture.metadata);
+    /* metadata has been destroyed from lavc internals, that pointer is not
+     * valid anymore */
+    s->picture.metadata = NULL;
 
     // As TIFF 6.0 specification puts it "An arbitrary but carefully chosen number
     // that further identifies the file as a TIFF file"
@@ -1169,8 +1170,6 @@ static av_cold int tiff_end(AVCodecContext *avctx)
     TiffContext *const s = avctx->priv_data;
 
     free_geotags(s);
-    if (avctx->coded_frame && avctx->coded_frame->metadata)
-        av_dict_free(&avctx->coded_frame->metadata);
 
     ff_lzw_decode_close(&s->lzw);
     if (s->picture.data[0])
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index e4b3ed71c6..06999f5425 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -1592,6 +1592,31 @@ static void apply_param_change(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVPacket *avpkt)
     }
 }
 
+static int add_metadata_from_side_data(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVFrame *frame)
+{
+    int size, ret = 0;
+    const uint8_t *side_metadata;
+    const uint8_t *end;
+
+    av_dict_free(&avctx->metadata);
+    side_metadata = av_packet_get_side_data(avctx->pkt,
+                                            AV_PKT_DATA_STRINGS_METADATA, &size);
+    if (!side_metadata)
+        goto end;
+    end = side_metadata + size;
+    while (side_metadata < end) {
+        const uint8_t *key = side_metadata;
+        const uint8_t *val = side_metadata + strlen(key) + 1;
+        int ret = av_dict_set(&frame->metadata, key, val, 0);
+        if (ret < 0)
+            break;
+        side_metadata = val + strlen(val) + 1;
+    }
+end:
+    avctx->metadata = frame->metadata;
+    return ret;
+}
+
 int attribute_align_arg avcodec_decode_video2(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVFrame *picture,
                                               int *got_picture_ptr,
                                               const AVPacket *avpkt)
@@ -1630,6 +1655,7 @@ int attribute_align_arg avcodec_decode_video2(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVFrame *pi
             if (!picture->height)                  picture->height              = avctx->height;
             if (picture->format == AV_PIX_FMT_NONE)   picture->format              = avctx->pix_fmt;
         }
+        add_metadata_from_side_data(avctx, picture);
 
         emms_c(); //needed to avoid an emms_c() call before every return;
 
@@ -1749,6 +1775,7 @@ int attribute_align_arg avcodec_decode_audio4(AVCodecContext *avctx,
             if (!frame->sample_rate)
                 frame->sample_rate = avctx->sample_rate;
         }
+        add_metadata_from_side_data(avctx, frame);
 
         side= av_packet_get_side_data(avctx->pkt, AV_PKT_DATA_SKIP_SAMPLES, &side_size);
         if(side && side_size>=10) {
@@ -1901,6 +1928,7 @@ av_cold int avcodec_close(AVCodecContext *avctx)
         avctx->internal->byte_buffer_size = 0;
         av_freep(&avctx->internal->byte_buffer);
         av_freep(&avctx->internal);
+        av_dict_free(&avctx->metadata);
     }
 
     if (avctx->priv_data && avctx->codec && avctx->codec->priv_class)
diff --git a/libavcodec/version.h b/libavcodec/version.h
index b2d5c1b506..a52d72668b 100644
--- a/libavcodec/version.h
+++ b/libavcodec/version.h
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #include "libavutil/avutil.h"
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR 54
-#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR 67
+#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR 68
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MICRO 100
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_INT  AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR, \
diff --git a/libavdevice/lavfi.c b/libavdevice/lavfi.c
index 944794fb87..82c5844fab 100644
--- a/libavdevice/lavfi.c
+++ b/libavdevice/lavfi.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 #include "float.h"              /* DBL_MIN, DBL_MAX */
 
+#include "libavutil/bprint.h"
 #include "libavutil/log.h"
 #include "libavutil/mem.h"
 #include "libavutil/opt.h"
@@ -339,6 +340,28 @@ static int lavfi_read_packet(AVFormatContext *avctx, AVPacket *pkt)
         memcpy(pkt->data, ref->data[0], size);
     }
 
+    if (ref->metadata) {
+        uint8_t *metadata;
+        AVDictionaryEntry *e = NULL;
+        AVBPrint meta_buf;
+
+        av_bprint_init(&meta_buf, 0, AV_BPRINT_SIZE_UNLIMITED);
+        while ((e = av_dict_get(ref->metadata, "", e, AV_DICT_IGNORE_SUFFIX))) {
+            av_bprintf(&meta_buf, "%s", e->key);
+            av_bprint_chars(&meta_buf, '\0', 1);
+            av_bprintf(&meta_buf, "%s", e->value);
+            av_bprint_chars(&meta_buf, '\0', 1);
+        }
+        if (!av_bprint_is_complete(&meta_buf) ||
+            !(metadata = av_packet_new_side_data(pkt, AV_PKT_DATA_STRINGS_METADATA,
+                                                 meta_buf.len))) {
+            av_bprint_finalize(&meta_buf, NULL);
+            return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+        }
+        memcpy(metadata, meta_buf.str, meta_buf.len);
+        av_bprint_finalize(&meta_buf, NULL);
+    }
+
     pkt->stream_index = stream_idx;
     pkt->pts = ref->pts;
     pkt->pos = ref->pos;
diff --git a/libavfilter/avcodec.c b/libavfilter/avcodec.c
index 313080dc01..2a173b2c91 100644
--- a/libavfilter/avcodec.c
+++ b/libavfilter/avcodec.c
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ int avfilter_copy_frame_props(AVFilterBufferRef *dst, const AVFrame *src)
     dst->pos    = av_frame_get_pkt_pos(src);
     dst->format = src->format;
 
+    av_dict_free(&dst->metadata);
+    av_dict_copy(&dst->metadata, av_frame_get_metadata(src), 0);
+
     switch (dst->type) {
     case AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO:
         dst->video->w                   = src->width;
diff --git a/libavfilter/avfilter.h b/libavfilter/avfilter.h
index 510f28a8de..dccd4204f3 100644
--- a/libavfilter/avfilter.h
+++ b/libavfilter/avfilter.h
@@ -180,6 +180,8 @@ typedef struct AVFilterBufferRef {
     int perms;                  ///< permissions, see the AV_PERM_* flags
 
     enum AVMediaType type;      ///< media type of buffer data
+
+    AVDictionary *metadata;     ///< dictionary containing metadata key=value tags
 } AVFilterBufferRef;
 
 /**
diff --git a/libavfilter/buffer.c b/libavfilter/buffer.c
index fc65b82825..ae1867f834 100644
--- a/libavfilter/buffer.c
+++ b/libavfilter/buffer.c
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ AVFilterBufferRef *avfilter_ref_buffer(AVFilterBufferRef *ref, int pmask)
     if (!ret)
         return NULL;
     *ret = *ref;
+
+    ret->metadata = NULL;
+    av_dict_copy(&ret->metadata, ref->metadata, 0);
+
     if (ref->type == AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO) {
         ret->video = av_malloc(sizeof(AVFilterBufferRefVideoProps));
         if (!ret->video) {
@@ -172,6 +176,7 @@ void avfilter_unref_buffer(AVFilterBufferRef *ref)
         av_freep(&ref->video->qp_table);
     av_freep(&ref->video);
     av_freep(&ref->audio);
+    av_dict_free(&ref->metadata);
     av_free(ref);
 }
 
@@ -197,6 +202,9 @@ void avfilter_copy_buffer_ref_props(AVFilterBufferRef *dst, AVFilterBufferRef *s
     case AVMEDIA_TYPE_AUDIO: *dst->audio = *src->audio; break;
     default: break;
     }
+
+    av_dict_free(&dst->metadata);
+    av_dict_copy(&dst->metadata, src->metadata, 0);
 }
 
 AVFilterBufferRef *ff_copy_buffer_ref(AVFilterLink *outlink,
diff --git a/libavfilter/version.h b/libavfilter/version.h
index 1f9320c5e5..eeb78059e7 100644
--- a/libavfilter/version.h
+++ b/libavfilter/version.h
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@
 #include "libavutil/avutil.h"
 
 #define LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_MAJOR  3
-#define LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_MINOR  19
-#define LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_MICRO 103
+#define LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_MINOR  20
+#define LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_MICRO 100
 
 #define LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_INT AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_MAJOR, \
                                                LIBAVFILTER_VERSION_MINOR, \