diff --git a/libswscale/swscale.h b/libswscale/swscale.h
index 87a1c4461b..3cc32026bc 100644
--- a/libswscale/swscale.h
+++ b/libswscale/swscale.h
@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@
 
 #define LIBSWSCALE_IDENT        "SwS" AV_STRINGIFY(LIBSWSCALE_VERSION)
 
+/**
+ * Those FF_API_* defines are not part of public API.
+ * They may change, break or disappear at any time.
+ */
+#ifndef FF_API_SWS_GETCONTEXT
+#define FF_API_SWS_GETCONTEXT  (LIBSWSCALE_VERSION_MAJOR < 1)
+#endif
+
 /**
  * Returns the LIBSWSCALE_VERSION_INT constant.
  */
@@ -164,6 +172,7 @@ int sws_init_context(struct SwsContext *sws_context, SwsFilter *srcFilter, SwsFi
  */
 void sws_freeContext(struct SwsContext *swsContext);
 
+#if FF_API_SWS_GETCONTEXT
 /**
  * Allocates and returns a SwsContext. You need it to perform
  * scaling/conversion operations using sws_scale().
@@ -178,10 +187,12 @@ void sws_freeContext(struct SwsContext *swsContext);
  * @return a pointer to an allocated context, or NULL in case of error
  * @deprecated use sws_alloc_context() and sws_init_context()
  */
+attribute_deprecated
 struct SwsContext *sws_getContext(int srcW, int srcH, enum PixelFormat srcFormat,
                                   int dstW, int dstH, enum PixelFormat dstFormat,
                                   int flags, SwsFilter *srcFilter,
                                   SwsFilter *dstFilter, const double *param);
+#endif
 
 /**
  * Scales the image slice in srcSlice and puts the resulting scaled
diff --git a/libswscale/utils.c b/libswscale/utils.c
index c817a4d997..23968b6e5e 100644
--- a/libswscale/utils.c
+++ b/libswscale/utils.c
@@ -1146,6 +1146,7 @@ fail: //FIXME replace things by appropriate error codes
     return -1;
 }
 
+#if FF_API_SWS_GETCONTEXT
 SwsContext *sws_getContext(int srcW, int srcH, enum PixelFormat srcFormat,
                            int dstW, int dstH, enum PixelFormat dstFormat, int flags,
                            SwsFilter *srcFilter, SwsFilter *dstFilter, const double *param)
@@ -1181,6 +1182,7 @@ SwsContext *sws_getContext(int srcW, int srcH, enum PixelFormat srcFormat,
 
     return c;
 }
+#endif
 
 SwsFilter *sws_getDefaultFilter(float lumaGBlur, float chromaGBlur,
                                 float lumaSharpen, float chromaSharpen,
@@ -1564,9 +1566,19 @@ struct SwsContext *sws_getCachedContext(struct SwsContext *context,
     }
 
     if (!context) {
-        return sws_getContext(srcW, srcH, srcFormat,
-                              dstW, dstH, dstFormat, flags,
-                              srcFilter, dstFilter, param);
+        if (!(context = sws_alloc_context()))
+            return NULL;
+        context->srcW      = srcW;
+        context->srcH      = srcH;
+        context->srcFormat = srcFormat;
+        context->dstFormat = dstFormat;
+        context->flags     = flags;
+        context->param[0]  = param[0];
+        context->param[1]  = param[1];
+        if (sws_init_context(context, srcFilter, dstFilter) < 0) {
+            sws_freeContext(context);
+            return NULL;
+        }
     }
     return context;
 }