diff --git a/libavcodec/options.c b/libavcodec/options.c
index 5437770553..9713e8d33e 100644
--- a/libavcodec/options.c
+++ b/libavcodec/options.c
@@ -95,8 +95,10 @@ int avcodec_get_context_defaults3(AVCodecContext *s, const AVCodec *codec)
     s->av_class = &av_codec_context_class;
 
     s->codec_type = codec ? codec->type : AVMEDIA_TYPE_UNKNOWN;
-    if (codec)
+    if (codec) {
+        s->codec = codec;
         s->codec_id = codec->id;
+    }
 
     if(s->codec_type == AVMEDIA_TYPE_AUDIO)
         flags= AV_OPT_FLAG_AUDIO_PARAM;