diff --git a/libavutil/samplefmt.c b/libavutil/samplefmt.c
index 960168d852..761009f2e2 100644
--- a/libavutil/samplefmt.c
+++ b/libavutil/samplefmt.c
@@ -140,17 +140,20 @@ int av_samples_fill_arrays(uint8_t **audio_data, int *linesize,
                            uint8_t *buf, int nb_channels, int nb_samples,
                            enum AVSampleFormat sample_fmt, int align)
 {
-    int ch, planar, buf_size;
+    int ch, planar, buf_size, line_size;
 
     planar   = av_sample_fmt_is_planar(sample_fmt);
-    buf_size = av_samples_get_buffer_size(linesize, nb_channels, nb_samples,
+    buf_size = av_samples_get_buffer_size(&line_size, nb_channels, nb_samples,
                                           sample_fmt, align);
     if (buf_size < 0)
         return buf_size;
 
     audio_data[0] = buf;
     for (ch = 1; planar && ch < nb_channels; ch++)
-        audio_data[ch] = audio_data[ch-1] + *linesize;
+        audio_data[ch] = audio_data[ch-1] + line_size;
+
+    if (linesize)
+        *linesize = line_size;
 
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/libavutil/samplefmt.h b/libavutil/samplefmt.h
index 4bd5da4471..0d6bde2732 100644
--- a/libavutil/samplefmt.h
+++ b/libavutil/samplefmt.h
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ int av_samples_get_buffer_size(int *linesize, int nb_channels, int nb_samples,
  * for packed layout.
  *
  * @param[out] audio_data  array to be filled with the pointer for each channel
- * @param[out] linesize    calculated linesize
+ * @param[out] linesize    calculated linesize, may be NULL
  * @param buf              the pointer to a buffer containing the samples
  * @param nb_channels      the number of channels
  * @param nb_samples       the number of samples in a single channel
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ int av_samples_fill_arrays(uint8_t **audio_data, int *linesize, uint8_t *buf,
  * The allocated samples buffer can be freed by using av_freep(&audio_data[0])
  *
  * @param[out] audio_data  array to be filled with the pointer for each channel
- * @param[out] linesize    aligned size for audio buffer(s)
+ * @param[out] linesize    aligned size for audio buffer(s), may be NULL
  * @param nb_channels      number of audio channels
  * @param nb_samples       number of samples per channel
  * @param align            buffer size alignment (1 = no alignment required)