diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index 5135464729..338e314102 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ libavutil:     2014-08-09
 
 API changes, most recent first:
 
+201x-xx-xx - xxxxxxx - lavc 56.10.0 - vdpau.h
+  Add av_vdpau_get_surface_parameters().
+
 201x-xx-xx - xxxxxxx - lavc 56.9.0 - avcodec.h
   Add AV_HWACCEL_FLAG_ALLOW_HIGH_DEPTH flag to av_vdpau_bind_context().
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/vdpau.c b/libavcodec/vdpau.c
index ea239bb311..8577c19b53 100644
--- a/libavcodec/vdpau.c
+++ b/libavcodec/vdpau.c
@@ -71,6 +71,46 @@ AVVDPAUContext *av_alloc_vdpaucontext(void)
 
 MAKE_ACCESSORS(AVVDPAUContext, vdpau_hwaccel, AVVDPAU_Render2, render2)
 
+int av_vdpau_get_surface_parameters(AVCodecContext *avctx,
+                                    VdpChromaType *type,
+                                    uint32_t *width, uint32_t *height)
+{
+    VdpChromaType t;
+    uint32_t w = avctx->coded_width;
+    uint32_t h = avctx->coded_height;
+
+    /* See <vdpau/vdpau.h> for per-type alignment constraints. */
+    switch (avctx->sw_pix_fmt) {
+    case AV_PIX_FMT_YUV420P:
+    case AV_PIX_FMT_YUVJ420P:
+        t = VDP_CHROMA_TYPE_420;
+        w = (w + 1) & ~1;
+        h = (h + 3) & ~3;
+        break;
+    case AV_PIX_FMT_YUV422P:
+    case AV_PIX_FMT_YUVJ422P:
+        t = VDP_CHROMA_TYPE_422;
+        w = (w + 1) & ~1;
+        h = (h + 1) & ~1;
+        break;
+    case AV_PIX_FMT_YUV444P:
+    case AV_PIX_FMT_YUVJ444P:
+        t = VDP_CHROMA_TYPE_444;
+        h = (h + 1) & ~1;
+        break;
+    default:
+        return AVERROR(ENOSYS);
+    }
+
+    if (type)
+        *type = t;
+    if (width)
+        *width = w;
+    if (height)
+        *height = h;
+    return 0;
+}
+
 int ff_vdpau_common_init(AVCodecContext *avctx, VdpDecoderProfile profile,
                          int level)
 {
@@ -83,9 +123,9 @@ int ff_vdpau_common_init(AVCodecContext *avctx, VdpDecoderProfile profile,
     VdpStatus status;
     VdpBool supported;
     uint32_t max_level, max_mb, max_width, max_height;
-    /* See vdpau/vdpau.h for alignment constraints. */
-    uint32_t width  = (avctx->coded_width + 1) & ~1;
-    uint32_t height = (avctx->coded_height + 3) & ~3;
+    VdpChromaType type;
+    uint32_t width;
+    uint32_t height;
 
     vdctx->width            = UINT32_MAX;
     vdctx->height           = UINT32_MAX;
@@ -112,6 +152,9 @@ int ff_vdpau_common_init(AVCodecContext *avctx, VdpDecoderProfile profile,
     else if (level < 0)
         return AVERROR(ENOTSUP);
 
+    if (av_vdpau_get_surface_parameters(avctx, &type, &width, &height))
+        return AVERROR(ENOSYS);
+
     status = vdctx->get_proc_address(vdctx->device,
                                      VDP_FUNC_ID_VIDEO_SURFACE_QUERY_CAPABILITIES,
                                      &func);
@@ -120,7 +163,7 @@ int ff_vdpau_common_init(AVCodecContext *avctx, VdpDecoderProfile profile,
     else
         surface_query_caps = func;
 
-    status = surface_query_caps(vdctx->device, VDP_CHROMA_TYPE_420, &supported,
+    status = surface_query_caps(vdctx->device, type, &supported,
                                 &max_width, &max_height);
     if (status != VDP_STATUS_OK)
         return vdpau_error(status);
diff --git a/libavcodec/vdpau.h b/libavcodec/vdpau.h
index 100677902e..a42ca013f2 100644
--- a/libavcodec/vdpau.h
+++ b/libavcodec/vdpau.h
@@ -169,6 +169,26 @@ void av_vdpau_hwaccel_set_render2(AVVDPAUContext *, AVVDPAU_Render2);
 int av_vdpau_bind_context(AVCodecContext *avctx, VdpDevice device,
                           VdpGetProcAddress *get_proc_address, unsigned flags);
 
+/**
+ * Gets the parameters to create an adequate VDPAU video surface for the codec
+ * context using VDPAU hardware decoding acceleration.
+ *
+ * @note Behavior is undefined if the context was not successfully bound to a
+ * VDPAU device using av_vdpau_bind_context().
+ *
+ * @param avctx the codec context being used for decoding the stream
+ * @param type storage space for the VDPAU video surface chroma type
+ *              (or NULL to ignore)
+ * @param width storage space for the VDPAU video surface pixel width
+ *              (or NULL to ignore)
+ * @param height storage space for the VDPAU video surface pixel height
+ *              (or NULL to ignore)
+ *
+ * @return 0 on success, a negative AVERROR code on failure.
+ */
+int av_vdpau_get_surface_parameters(AVCodecContext *avctx, VdpChromaType *type,
+                                    uint32_t *width, uint32_t *height);
+
 /**
  * Allocate an AVVDPAUContext.
  *
diff --git a/libavcodec/version.h b/libavcodec/version.h
index 7e33da02d9..d8c891de22 100644
--- a/libavcodec/version.h
+++ b/libavcodec/version.h
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #include "libavutil/version.h"
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR 56
-#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR  18
+#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR  19
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MICRO 100
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_INT  AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR, \