diff --git a/libavformat/wc3movie.c b/libavformat/wc3movie.c
index 76e945d261..cd69931a42 100644
--- a/libavformat/wc3movie.c
+++ b/libavformat/wc3movie.c
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ typedef struct Wc3DemuxContext {
     int video_stream_index;
     int audio_stream_index;
 
-    AVPacket vpkt;
+    AVPacket *vpkt;
 
 } Wc3DemuxContext;
 
@@ -77,8 +77,7 @@ static int wc3_read_close(AVFormatContext *s)
 {
     Wc3DemuxContext *wc3 = s->priv_data;
 
-    if (wc3->vpkt.size > 0)
-        av_packet_unref(&wc3->vpkt);
+    av_packet_free(&wc3->vpkt);
 
     return 0;
 }
@@ -110,8 +109,9 @@ static int wc3_read_header(AVFormatContext *s)
     wc3->height = WC3_DEFAULT_HEIGHT;
     wc3->pts = 0;
     wc3->video_stream_index = wc3->audio_stream_index = 0;
-    av_init_packet(&wc3->vpkt);
-    wc3->vpkt.data = NULL; wc3->vpkt.size = 0;
+    wc3->vpkt = av_packet_alloc();
+    if (!wc3->vpkt)
+        return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
 
     /* skip the first 3 32-bit numbers */
     avio_skip(pb, 12);
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ static int wc3_read_header(AVFormatContext *s)
         case PALT_TAG:
             /* one of several palettes */
             avio_seek(pb, -8, SEEK_CUR);
-            av_append_packet(pb, &wc3->vpkt, 8 + PALETTE_SIZE);
+            av_append_packet(pb, wc3->vpkt, 8 + PALETTE_SIZE);
             break;
 
         default:
@@ -248,18 +248,17 @@ static int wc3_read_packet(AVFormatContext *s,
         case SHOT_TAG:
             /* load up new palette */
             avio_seek(pb, -8, SEEK_CUR);
-            av_append_packet(pb, &wc3->vpkt, 8 + 4);
+            av_append_packet(pb, wc3->vpkt, 8 + 4);
             break;
 
         case VGA__TAG:
             /* send out video chunk */
             avio_seek(pb, -8, SEEK_CUR);
-            ret= av_append_packet(pb, &wc3->vpkt, 8 + size);
+            ret= av_append_packet(pb, wc3->vpkt, 8 + size);
             // ignore error if we have some data
-            if (wc3->vpkt.size > 0)
+            if (wc3->vpkt->size > 0)
                 ret = 0;
-            *pkt = wc3->vpkt;
-            wc3->vpkt.data = NULL; wc3->vpkt.size = 0;
+            av_packet_move_ref(pkt, wc3->vpkt);
             pkt->stream_index = wc3->video_stream_index;
             pkt->pts = wc3->pts;
             packet_read = 1;