diff --git a/src/libav.c b/src/libav.c
index 7934c52e..956016af 100644
--- a/src/libav.c
+++ b/src/libav.c
@@ -140,6 +140,19 @@ codec_id2streaming_component_type(enum CodecID id)
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * 
+ */ 
+int
+libav_is_encoder(AVCodec *codec)
+{
+#if LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_INT >= ((54<<16)+(7<<8)+0)
+  return av_codec_is_encoder(codec);
+#else
+  return codec->encode || codec->encode2;
+#endif
+}
+
 /**
  * 
  */ 
diff --git a/src/libav.h b/src/libav.h
index 98856f90..d34412d4 100644
--- a/src/libav.h
+++ b/src/libav.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
 enum CodecID streaming_component_type2codec_id(streaming_component_type_t type);
 streaming_component_type_t codec_id2streaming_component_type(enum CodecID id);
+int libav_is_encoder(AVCodec *codec);
 void libav_init(void);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/plumbing/transcoding.c b/src/plumbing/transcoding.c
index 4cb48f67..ea0af203 100644
--- a/src/plumbing/transcoding.c
+++ b/src/plumbing/transcoding.c
@@ -1317,7 +1317,7 @@ transcoder_get_capabilities(htsmsg_t *array)
 
   while ((p = av_codec_next(p))) {
 
-    if (!p->encode && !p->encode2)
+    if (!libav_is_encoder(p))
       continue;
 
     if (!WORKING_ENCODER(p->id))