diff --git a/libavcodec/dnxhddec.c b/libavcodec/dnxhddec.c
index f46e41a456..05f4458f99 100644
--- a/libavcodec/dnxhddec.c
+++ b/libavcodec/dnxhddec.c
@@ -93,7 +93,9 @@ static av_cold int dnxhd_decode_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
 
     ctx->avctx = avctx;
     ctx->cid = -1;
-    avctx->colorspace = AVCOL_SPC_BT709;
+    if (avctx->colorspace == AVCOL_SPC_UNSPECIFIED) {
+        avctx->colorspace = AVCOL_SPC_BT709;
+    }
 
     avctx->coded_width  = FFALIGN(avctx->width,  16);
     avctx->coded_height = FFALIGN(avctx->height, 16);