diff --git a/DOCS/man/options.rst b/DOCS/man/options.rst
index 94beae933a..4eb29eb4f7 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/options.rst
+++ b/DOCS/man/options.rst
@@ -823,9 +823,10 @@ Video
     The result is most likely broken decoding, but may also help if the
     detected or reported profiles are somehow incorrect.
 
-``--vd-lavc-software-fallback=<yes|no>``
+``--vd-lavc-software-fallback=<yes|no|N>``
     Fallback to software decoding if the hardware-accelerated decoder fails
-    (default: yes).
+    (default: 3). If this is a number, then fallback will be triggered if
+    N frames fail to decode in a row. 1 is equivalent to ``yes``.
 
 ``--vd-lavc-bitexact``
     Only use bit-exact algorithms in all decoding steps (for codec testing).
diff --git a/video/decode/lavc.h b/video/decode/lavc.h
index 90b2d6a886..b655b8480b 100644
--- a/video/decode/lavc.h
+++ b/video/decode/lavc.h
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ typedef struct lavc_ctx {
     int hwdec_profile;
 
     bool hwdec_request_reinit;
+    int hwdec_fail_count;
 } vd_ffmpeg_ctx;
 
 struct vd_lavc_hwdec {
diff --git a/video/decode/vd_lavc.c b/video/decode/vd_lavc.c
index 9ce657bb5c..c80ec26deb 100644
--- a/video/decode/vd_lavc.c
+++ b/video/decode/vd_lavc.c
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ const struct m_sub_options vd_lavc_conf = {
         OPT_INT("threads", threads, M_OPT_MIN, .min = 0),
         OPT_FLAG("bitexact", bitexact, 0),
         OPT_FLAG("check-hw-profile", check_hw_profile, 0),
-        OPT_FLAG("software-fallback", software_fallback, 0),
+        OPT_CHOICE_OR_INT("software-fallback", software_fallback, 0, 1, INT_MAX,
+                          ({"no", INT_MAX}, {"yes", 1})),
         OPT_KEYVALUELIST("o", avopts, 0),
         {0}
     },
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ const struct m_sub_options vd_lavc_conf = {
     .defaults = &(const struct vd_lavc_params){
         .show_all = 0,
         .check_hw_profile = 1,
-        .software_fallback = 1,
+        .software_fallback = 3,
         .skip_loop_filter = AVDISCARD_DEFAULT,
         .skip_idct = AVDISCARD_DEFAULT,
         .skip_frame = AVDISCARD_DEFAULT,
@@ -463,6 +464,7 @@ static void uninit_avctx(struct dec_video *vd)
     av_frame_free(&ctx->pic);
 
     ctx->hwdec_failed = false;
+    ctx->hwdec_fail_count = 0;
 }
 
 static void update_image_params(struct dec_video *vd, AVFrame *frame,
@@ -609,7 +611,7 @@ static void decode(struct dec_video *vd, struct demux_packet *packet,
     int ret;
     vd_ffmpeg_ctx *ctx = vd->priv;
     AVCodecContext *avctx = ctx->avctx;
-    struct vd_lavc_params *lavc_param = ctx->opts->vd_lavc_params;
+    struct vd_lavc_params *opts = ctx->opts->vd_lavc_params;
     AVPacket pkt;
 
     if (ctx->hwdec_request_reinit)
@@ -617,7 +619,7 @@ static void decode(struct dec_video *vd, struct demux_packet *packet,
 
     if (flags) {
         // hr-seek framedrop vs. normal framedrop
-        avctx->skip_frame = flags == 2 ? AVDISCARD_NONREF : lavc_param->framedrop;
+        avctx->skip_frame = flags == 2 ? AVDISCARD_NONREF : opts->framedrop;
     } else {
         // normal playback
         avctx->skip_frame = ctx->skip_frame;
@@ -631,8 +633,11 @@ static void decode(struct dec_video *vd, struct demux_packet *packet,
 
     if (ret < 0) {
         MP_WARN(vd, "Error while decoding frame!\n");
-        if (lavc_param->software_fallback)
-            ctx->hwdec_failed = true;
+        if (ctx->hwdec) {
+            ctx->hwdec_fail_count += 1;
+            if (ctx->hwdec_fail_count >= opts->software_fallback)
+                ctx->hwdec_failed = true;
+        }
         return;
     }
 
@@ -645,6 +650,8 @@ static void decode(struct dec_video *vd, struct demux_packet *packet,
     if (!got_picture)
         return;
 
+    ctx->hwdec_fail_count = 0;
+
     struct mp_image_params params;
     update_image_params(vd, ctx->pic, &params);
     vd->codec_pts = mp_pts_from_av(ctx->pic->pkt_pts, NULL);