diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index c3f4c6bfd7..e3046c01c0 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ API changes, most recent first:
   Moves version.h to libavutil/ffversion.h.
   Install ffversion.h and make it public.
 
+2013-12-xx - xxxxxxx - lavc 55.28.1 - avcodec.h
+  av_frame_alloc(), av_frame_unref() and av_frame_free() now can and should be
+  used instead of avcodec_alloc_frame(), avcodec_get_frame_defaults() and
+  avcodec_free_frame() respectively. The latter three functions are deprecated.
+
 2013-11-xx - xxxxxxx- - lavu 52.20.0 - frame.h
   Add AV_FRAME_DATA_STEREO3D value to the AVFrameSideDataType enum and
   stereo3d.h API, that identify codec-independent stereo3d information.
diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index a5ae852aea..fbf31ef4f6 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -3382,16 +3382,17 @@ int avcodec_copy_context(AVCodecContext *dest, const AVCodecContext *src);
  */
 attribute_deprecated
 AVFrame *avcodec_alloc_frame(void);
-#endif
 
 /**
  * Set the fields of the given AVFrame to default values.
  *
  * @param frame The AVFrame of which the fields should be set to default values.
+ *
+ * @deprecated use av_frame_unref()
  */
+attribute_deprecated
 void avcodec_get_frame_defaults(AVFrame *frame);
 
-#if FF_API_AVFRAME_LAVC
 /**
  * Free the frame and any dynamically allocated objects in it,
  * e.g. extended_data.
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 020c3434b4..73370fec67 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -1049,6 +1049,7 @@ enum AVPixelFormat avcodec_default_get_format(struct AVCodecContext *s, const en
     return fmt[0];
 }
 
+#if FF_API_AVFRAME_LAVC
 void avcodec_get_frame_defaults(AVFrame *frame)
 {
 #if LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR >= 55
@@ -1074,7 +1075,6 @@ void avcodec_get_frame_defaults(AVFrame *frame)
     av_frame_set_colorspace(frame, AVCOL_SPC_UNSPECIFIED);
 }
 
-#if FF_API_AVFRAME_LAVC
 AVFrame *avcodec_alloc_frame(void)
 {
     AVFrame *frame = av_malloc(sizeof(AVFrame));
diff --git a/libavcodec/version.h b/libavcodec/version.h
index eab162284c..1beb01cc39 100644
--- a/libavcodec/version.h
+++ b/libavcodec/version.h
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR 55
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR  45
-#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MICRO 100
+#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MICRO 101
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_INT  AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR, \
                                                LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR, \