diff --git a/libavcodec/decode.c b/libavcodec/decode.c
index 7dc38b26c5..8102cf40de 100644
--- a/libavcodec/decode.c
+++ b/libavcodec/decode.c
@@ -736,7 +736,6 @@ static int compat_decode(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVFrame *frame,
     }
 
     *got_frame = 0;
-    avci->compat_decode = 1;
 
     if (avci->compat_decode_partial_size > 0 &&
         avci->compat_decode_partial_size != pkt->size) {
diff --git a/libavcodec/internal.h b/libavcodec/internal.h
index df82789cdc..0e3415d69b 100644
--- a/libavcodec/internal.h
+++ b/libavcodec/internal.h
@@ -173,8 +173,6 @@ typedef struct AVCodecInternal {
     int buffer_pkt_valid; // encoding: packet without data can be valid
     AVFrame *buffer_frame;
     int draining_done;
-    /* set to 1 when the caller is using the old decoding API */
-    int compat_decode;
     int compat_decode_warned;
     /* this variable is set by the decoder internals to signal to the old
      * API compat wrappers the amount of data consumed from the last packet */