diff --git a/libavcodec/decode.c b/libavcodec/decode.c
index c8e9be3a13..5a00aeedae 100644
--- a/libavcodec/decode.c
+++ b/libavcodec/decode.c
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ static int extract_packet_props(AVCodecInternal *avci, const AVPacket *pkt)
     return 0;
 }
 
-int ff_decode_bsfs_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
+static int decode_bsfs_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
 {
     AVCodecInternal *avci = avctx->internal;
     int ret;
@@ -2007,6 +2007,8 @@ int ff_reget_buffer(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVFrame *frame, int flags)
 
 int ff_decode_preinit(AVCodecContext *avctx)
 {
+    int ret = 0;
+
     /* if the decoder init function was already called previously,
      * free the already allocated subtitle_header before overwriting it */
     av_freep(&avctx->subtitle_header);
@@ -2043,5 +2045,9 @@ FF_ENABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS
         avctx->export_side_data |= AV_CODEC_EXPORT_DATA_MVS;
     }
 
+    ret = decode_bsfs_init(avctx);
+    if (ret < 0)
+        return ret;
+
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/libavcodec/decode.h b/libavcodec/decode.h
index a865fe954f..1467b1eb33 100644
--- a/libavcodec/decode.h
+++ b/libavcodec/decode.h
@@ -69,12 +69,6 @@ int ff_decode_get_packet(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVPacket *pkt);
  */
 int ff_decode_frame_props(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVFrame *frame);
 
-/**
- * Called during avcodec_open2() to initialize avctx->internal->bsf.
- * The bsf should be freed with av_bsf_free().
- */
-int ff_decode_bsfs_init(AVCodecContext *avctx);
-
 /**
  * Make sure avctx.hw_frames_ctx is set. If it's not set, the function will
  * try to allocate it from hw_device_ctx. If that is not possible, an error
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 3eae531297..c072ca5489 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -730,12 +730,6 @@ int attribute_align_arg avcodec_open2(AVCodecContext *avctx, const AVCodec *code
             goto free_and_end;
     }
 
-    if (av_codec_is_decoder(avctx->codec)) {
-        ret = ff_decode_bsfs_init(avctx);
-        if (ret < 0)
-            goto free_and_end;
-    }
-
     if (HAVE_THREADS
         && !(avci->frame_thread_encoder && (avctx->active_thread_type&FF_THREAD_FRAME))) {
         ret = ff_thread_init(avctx);