diff --git a/libavfilter/avfilter.c b/libavfilter/avfilter.c
index 76c60c1d29..1b5cc2f64e 100644
--- a/libavfilter/avfilter.c
+++ b/libavfilter/avfilter.c
@@ -965,21 +965,6 @@ int avfilter_init_str(AVFilterContext *filter, const char *args)
                 goto fail;
 #endif
         } else {
-#if CONFIG_MP_FILTER
-            if (!strcmp(filter->filter->name, "mp")) {
-                char *escaped;
-
-                if (!strncmp(args, "filter=", 7))
-                    args += 7;
-                ret = av_escape(&escaped, args, ":=", AV_ESCAPE_MODE_BACKSLASH, 0);
-                if (ret < 0) {
-                    av_log(filter, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Unable to escape MPlayer filters arg '%s'\n", args);
-                    goto fail;
-                }
-                ret = process_options(filter, &options, escaped);
-                av_free(escaped);
-            } else
-#endif
             ret = process_options(filter, &options, args);
             if (ret < 0)
                 goto fail;