diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index d08c630317..df2a1e1359 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -890,3 +890,8 @@ void av_log_set_callback(void (*callback)(void*, int, const char*, va_list))
     av_log_callback = callback;
 }
 
+#if !defined(HAVE_PTHREADS) && !defined(HAVE_W32THREADS)
+int avcodec_thread_init(AVCodecContext *s, int thread_count){
+    return -1;
+}
+#endif