diff --git a/compat/libav.h b/compat/libav.h
index ef588fe025..a2957f4b71 100644
--- a/compat/libav.h
+++ b/compat/libav.h
@@ -32,17 +32,4 @@
 #define AV_CODEC_ID_SUBRIP AV_CODEC_ID_TEXT
 #endif
 
-#if LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_INT < AV_VERSION_INT(51, 36, 0)
-#define av_get_packed_sample_fmt(x) (x)
-#endif
-
-#if LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_INT < AV_VERSION_INT(54, 28, 0)
-#define avcodec_free_frame av_freep
-#endif
-
-// For Libav 0.9
-#if LIBAVFORMAT_VERSION_INT < AV_VERSION_INT(54, 2, 100)
-#define AV_DISPOSITION_ATTACHED_PIC      0x0400
-#endif
-
 #endif /* MPV_LIBAV_COMPAT_H */
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 7413c95498..1b855b9cb8 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2675,9 +2675,7 @@ fi
 echores "$_lcms2"
 
 
-# Test with > against Libav 0.8 versions which will NOT work rather than
-# specify minimum version, to allow (future) point releases to possibly work.
-all_libav_libs="libavutil > 51.22.0:libavcodec >= 53.35.0:libavformat > 53.20.0:libswscale >= 2.0.0"
+all_libav_libs="libavutil > 51.73.0:libavcodec > 54.34.0:libavformat > 54.19.0:libswscale >= 2.0.0"
 echocheck "Libav ($all_libav_libs)"
 if test "$ffmpeg" = auto ; then
   IFS=":"   # shell should not be used for programming
@@ -2713,37 +2711,6 @@ if test "$_resampler" = no ; then
 fi
 
 
-echocheck "Libav 0.8 compatibility hack"
-if test "$_encoding" = yes && $_pkg_config "libavcodec >= 54.0.0" ; then
-    echores "no"
-else
-    _encoding=no
-    echores "yes"
-fi
-
-
-echocheck "libavcodec AVCodecDescriptor API"
-_avcodec_codec_desc_api=no
-statement_check libavcodec/avcodec.h 'const AVCodecDescriptor *desc = avcodec_descriptor_get_by_name("c")' && _avcodec_codec_desc_api=yes
-if test "$_avcodec_codec_desc_api" = yes ; then
-  def_avcodec_codec_desc_api='#define HAVE_AVCODEC_CODEC_DESC_API 1'
-else
-  def_avcodec_codec_desc_api='#define HAVE_AVCODEC_CODEC_DESC_API 0'
-fi
-echores "$_avcodec_codec_desc_api"
-
-
-echocheck "libavcodec av_codec_is_decoder API"
-_avcodec_is_decoder_api=no
-statement_check libavcodec/avcodec.h 'av_codec_is_decoder(NULL)' && _avcodec_is_decoder_api=yes
-if test "$_avcodec_is_decoder_api" = yes ; then
-  def_avcodec_is_decoder_api='#define HAVE_AVCODEC_IS_DECODER_API 1'
-else
-  def_avcodec_is_decoder_api='#define HAVE_AVCODEC_IS_DECODER_API 0'
-fi
-echores "$_avcodec_is_decoder_api"
-
-
 echocheck "libavutil ref-counting API"
 _avutil_has_refcounting=no
 statement_check libavutil/frame.h 'av_frame_unref(NULL)' && _avutil_has_refcounting=yes
@@ -3253,8 +3220,6 @@ $def_vcd
 $def_mpg123
 $def_zlib
 
-$def_avcodec_codec_desc_api
-$def_avcodec_is_decoder_api
 $def_avutil_has_refcounting
 $def_libpostproc
 $def_libavdevice
diff --git a/core/av_common.c b/core/av_common.c
index 20ca02f484..14a7a6b089 100644
--- a/core/av_common.c
+++ b/core/av_common.c
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 #include <libavutil/common.h>
 
-#include "config.h"
 #include "core/mp_talloc.h"
 #include "av_common.h"
 #include "codecs.h"
@@ -59,13 +58,6 @@ void mp_copy_lav_codec_headers(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVCodecContext *st)
     avctx->bits_per_coded_sample    = st->bits_per_coded_sample;
 }
 
-#if !HAVE_AVCODEC_IS_DECODER_API
-static int av_codec_is_decoder(AVCodec *codec)
-{
-    return !!codec->decode;
-}
-#endif
-
 void mp_add_lavc_decoders(struct mp_decoder_list *list, enum AVMediaType type)
 {
     AVCodec *cur = NULL;
@@ -86,8 +78,6 @@ void mp_add_lavc_decoders(struct mp_decoder_list *list, enum AVMediaType type)
     }
 }
 
-#if HAVE_AVCODEC_CODEC_DESC_API
-
 int mp_codec_to_av_codec_id(const char *codec)
 {
     int id = AV_CODEC_ID_NONE;
@@ -115,67 +105,3 @@ const char *mp_codec_from_av_codec_id(int codec_id)
     }
     return name;
 }
-
-#else
-
-struct mp_av_codec {
-    const char *name;
-    int codec_id;
-};
-
-// Some decoders have a different name from the canonical codec name, for
-// example the codec "dts" AV_CODEC_ID_DTS has the decoder named "dca", and
-// avcodec_find_decoder_by_name("dts") would return 0. We always want the
-// canonical name.
-// On newer lavc versions, avcodec_descriptor_get_by_name("dts") will return
-// AV_CODEC_ID_DTS, which is what we want, but for older versions we need this
-// lookup table.
-struct mp_av_codec mp_av_codec_id_list[] = {
-    {"ra_144",          AV_CODEC_ID_RA_144},
-    {"ra_288",          AV_CODEC_ID_RA_288},
-    {"smackaudio",      AV_CODEC_ID_SMACKAUDIO},
-    {"dts",             AV_CODEC_ID_DTS},
-    {"musepack7",       AV_CODEC_ID_MUSEPACK7},
-    {"musepack8",       AV_CODEC_ID_MUSEPACK8},
-    {"amr_nb",          AV_CODEC_ID_AMR_NB},
-    {"amr_wb",          AV_CODEC_ID_AMR_WB},
-    {"adpcm_g722",      AV_CODEC_ID_ADPCM_G722},
-    {"adpcm_g726",      AV_CODEC_ID_ADPCM_G726},
-    {"westwood_snd1",   AV_CODEC_ID_WESTWOOD_SND1},
-    {"mp4als",          AV_CODEC_ID_MP4ALS},
-    {"vixl",            AV_CODEC_ID_VIXL},
-    {"flv1",            AV_CODEC_ID_FLV1},
-    {"msmpeg4v3",       AV_CODEC_ID_MSMPEG4V3},
-    {"jpeg2000",        AV_CODEC_ID_JPEG2000},
-    {"ulti",            AV_CODEC_ID_ULTI},
-    {"smackvideo",      AV_CODEC_ID_SMACKVIDEO},
-    {"tscc",            AV_CODEC_ID_TSCC},
-    {"cscd",            AV_CODEC_ID_CSCD},
-    {"tgv",             AV_CODEC_ID_TGV},
-    {"roq",             AV_CODEC_ID_ROQ},
-    {"idcin",           AV_CODEC_ID_IDCIN},
-    {"ws_vqa",          AV_CODEC_ID_WS_VQA},
-    {0},
-};
-
-int mp_codec_to_av_codec_id(const char *codec)
-{
-    for (int n = 0; mp_av_codec_id_list[n].name; n++) {
-        if (strcmp(mp_av_codec_id_list[n].name, codec) == 0)
-            return mp_av_codec_id_list[n].codec_id;
-    }
-    AVCodec *avcodec = avcodec_find_decoder_by_name(codec);
-    return avcodec ? avcodec->id : AV_CODEC_ID_NONE;
-}
-
-const char *mp_codec_from_av_codec_id(int codec_id)
-{
-    for (int n = 0; mp_av_codec_id_list[n].name; n++) {
-        if (mp_av_codec_id_list[n].codec_id == codec_id)
-            return mp_av_codec_id_list[n].name;
-    }
-    AVCodec *avcodec = avcodec_find_decoder(codec_id);
-    return avcodec ? avcodec->name : NULL;
-}
-
-#endif