diff --git a/libavcodec/h264_refs.c b/libavcodec/h264_refs.c
index 5905276e83..444849ae11 100644
--- a/libavcodec/h264_refs.c
+++ b/libavcodec/h264_refs.c
@@ -586,21 +586,6 @@ void ff_h264_remove_all_refs(H264Context *h)
     }
 }
 
-static int check_opcodes(MMCO *mmco1, MMCO *mmco2, int n_mmcos)
-{
-    int i;
-
-    for (i = 0; i < n_mmcos; i++) {
-        if (mmco1[i].opcode != mmco2[i].opcode) {
-            av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_ERROR, "MMCO opcode [%d, %d] at %d mismatches between slices\n",
-                   mmco1[i].opcode, mmco2[i].opcode, i);
-            return -1;
-        }
-    }
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
 static void generate_sliding_window_mmcos(H264Context *h)
 {
     MMCO *mmco = h->mmco;