diff --git a/libass/ass.c b/libass/ass.c
index 654fcdb811..87d699a4d3 100644
--- a/libass/ass.c
+++ b/libass/ass.c
@@ -30,19 +30,14 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 
-#ifdef HAVE_ENCA
-#include "subreader.h" // for guess_buffer_cp
-#endif
-
 #ifdef USE_ICONV
 #include <iconv.h>
 #endif
 
-#include "mp_msg.h"
 #include "ass.h"
 #include "ass_utils.h"
 #include "ass_library.h"
-#include "libvo/sub.h" // for utf8_get_char
+#include "mputils.h"
 
 typedef enum {PST_UNKNOWN = 0, PST_INFO, PST_STYLES, PST_EVENTS, PST_FONTS} parser_state_t;
 
diff --git a/libass/ass_bitmap.c b/libass/ass_bitmap.c
index baadc55415..0f031572a1 100644
--- a/libass/ass_bitmap.c
+++ b/libass/ass_bitmap.c
@@ -25,8 +25,7 @@
 #include <ft2build.h>
 #include FT_GLYPH_H
 
-#include "mp_msg.h"
-#include "libvo/font_load.h" // for blur()
+#include "mputils.h"
 #include "ass_bitmap.h"
 
 struct ass_synth_priv_s {
diff --git a/libass/ass_cache.c b/libass/ass_cache.c
index 7ed4d7e7c4..ada9519e9c 100644
--- a/libass/ass_cache.c
+++ b/libass/ass_cache.c
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 #include <assert.h>
 
-#include "mp_msg.h"
+#include "mputils.h"
 #include "ass_fontconfig.h"
 #include "ass_bitmap.h"
 #include "ass_cache.h"
diff --git a/libass/ass_fontconfig.c b/libass/ass_fontconfig.c
index 53a2d8405e..c1701758db 100644
--- a/libass/ass_fontconfig.c
+++ b/libass/ass_fontconfig.c
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 
-#include "mp_msg.h"
+#include "mputils.h"
 #include "ass_fontconfig.h"
 
 #ifdef HAVE_FONTCONFIG
diff --git a/libass/ass_render.c b/libass/ass_render.c
index 68346e81fb..df68ae03a1 100644
--- a/libass/ass_render.c
+++ b/libass/ass_render.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #include FT_GLYPH_H
 #include FT_SYNTHESIS_H
 
-#include "mp_msg.h"
+#include "mputils.h"
 
 #include "ass.h"
 #include "ass_bitmap.h"
@@ -38,9 +38,6 @@
 #include "ass_fontconfig.h"
 #include "ass_library.h"
 
-#include "libvo/sub.h" // for utf8_get_char
-#include "libavutil/common.h"
-
 #define MAX_GLYPHS 1000
 #define MAX_LINES 100
 
diff --git a/libass/ass_utils.c b/libass/ass_utils.c
index 01225dcf06..7b7662e88b 100644
--- a/libass/ass_utils.c
+++ b/libass/ass_utils.c
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <time.h>
 
-#include "mp_msg.h"
+#include "mputils.h"
 #include "ass_utils.h"
 
 int mystrtoi(char** p, int base, int* res)
diff --git a/libass/mputils.h b/libass/mputils.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a36e570eca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libass/mputils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#ifndef __ASS_MPUTILS_H__
+#define __ASS_MPUTILS_H__
+
+#include "mp_msg.h"
+#include "libvo/font_load.h" // for blur()
+#include "subreader.h" // for guess_buffer_cp
+#include "libvo/sub.h" // for utf8_get_char
+#include "libavutil/common.h"
+
+#endif