diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index 4f3303366f..60f7acefbd 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -5667,6 +5667,7 @@ attribute_deprecated
 void avcodec_set_dimensions(AVCodecContext *s, int width, int height);
 #endif
 
+#if FF_API_TAG_STRING
 /**
  * Put a string representing the codec tag codec_tag in buf.
  *
@@ -5675,8 +5676,12 @@ void avcodec_set_dimensions(AVCodecContext *s, int width, int height);
  * @param codec_tag codec tag to assign
  * @return the length of the string that would have been generated if
  * enough space had been available, excluding the trailing null
+ *
+ * @deprecated see av_fourcc_make_string() and av_fourcc2str().
  */
+attribute_deprecated
 size_t av_get_codec_tag_string(char *buf, size_t buf_size, unsigned int codec_tag);
+#endif
 
 void avcodec_string(char *buf, int buf_size, AVCodecContext *enc, int encode);
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/version.h b/libavcodec/version.h
index 37defbc365..8dea5cb97b 100644
--- a/libavcodec/version.h
+++ b/libavcodec/version.h
@@ -235,6 +235,9 @@
 #ifndef FF_API_MERGE_SD_API
 #define FF_API_MERGE_SD_API      (LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR < 59)
 #endif
+#ifndef FF_API_TAG_STRING
+#define FF_API_TAG_STRING        (LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR < 59)
+#endif
 
 
 #endif /* AVCODEC_VERSION_H */