diff --git a/libavcodec/pthread.c b/libavcodec/pthread.c
index 5074f4a64a..e5ffbbf1b8 100644
--- a/libavcodec/pthread.c
+++ b/libavcodec/pthread.c
@@ -1146,23 +1146,16 @@ static void validate_thread_parameters(AVCodecContext *avctx)
 
 int ff_thread_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
 {
-    if (avctx->thread_opaque) {
-        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "avcodec_thread_init is ignored after avcodec_open\n");
-        return -1;
-    }
-
 #if HAVE_W32THREADS
     w32thread_init();
 #endif
 
-    if (avctx->codec) {
         validate_thread_parameters(avctx);
 
         if (avctx->active_thread_type&FF_THREAD_SLICE)
             return thread_init(avctx);
         else if (avctx->active_thread_type&FF_THREAD_FRAME)
             return frame_thread_init(avctx);
-    }
 
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 573bba6342..25c6386aae 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -1173,7 +1173,7 @@ int attribute_align_arg avcodec_open2(AVCodecContext *avctx, const AVCodec *code
             goto free_and_end;
     }
 
-    if (HAVE_THREADS && !avctx->thread_opaque
+    if (HAVE_THREADS
         && !(avctx->internal->frame_thread_encoder && (avctx->active_thread_type&FF_THREAD_FRAME))) {
         ret = ff_thread_init(avctx);
         if (ret < 0) {