diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c1d3bcd53..3bf956b69 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -725,17 +725,9 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_FAAD, test x$enable_aac = xyes)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_MP4, test x$enable_mp4 = xyes)
 
 dnl ---------------------------------- ffmpeg ---------------------------------
-MPD_AUTO_PKG(ffmpeg, FFMPEG, [libavformat libavcodec libavutil],
+MPD_AUTO_PKG(ffmpeg, FFMPEG, [libavformat >= 52 libavcodec >= 51 libavutil >= 49],
 	[ffmpeg decoder library], [libavformat+libavcodec+libavutil not found])
 
-if test x$enable_ffmpeg = xyes; then
-	old_LIBS=$LIBS
-	LIBS="$LIBS $FFMPEG_LIBS"
-	AC_CHECK_LIB(avcodec, avcodec_decode_audio2,,
-		enable_ffmpeg=no)
-	LIBS=$old_LIBS
-fi
-
 if test x$enable_ffmpeg = xyes; then
 	# prior to ffmpeg svn12865, you had to specify include files
 	# without path prefix