diff --git a/libavcodec/mpegvideo.c b/libavcodec/mpegvideo.c
index 22cb56a30d..7380af05c9 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mpegvideo.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mpegvideo.c
@@ -1359,16 +1359,14 @@ av_cold void ff_init_vlc_rl(RLTable *rl)
     }
 }
 
-void ff_release_unused_pictures(MpegEncContext*s, int remove_current)
+static void release_unused_pictures(MpegEncContext *s)
 {
     int i;
 
     /* release non reference frames */
     for (i = 0; i < MAX_PICTURE_COUNT; i++) {
-        if (!s->picture[i].reference &&
-            (remove_current || &s->picture[i] !=  s->current_picture_ptr)) {
+        if (!s->picture[i].reference)
             ff_mpeg_unref_picture(s, &s->picture[i]);
-        }
     }
 }
 
@@ -1492,7 +1490,7 @@ int ff_MPV_frame_start(MpegEncContext *s, AVCodecContext *avctx)
     ff_mpeg_unref_picture(s, &s->current_picture);
 
     if (!s->encoding) {
-        ff_release_unused_pictures(s, 1);
+        release_unused_pictures(s);
 
         if (s->current_picture_ptr &&
             s->current_picture_ptr->f.buf[0] == NULL) {
diff --git a/libavcodec/mpegvideo.h b/libavcodec/mpegvideo.h
index 857b297a65..1d2b29145c 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mpegvideo.h
+++ b/libavcodec/mpegvideo.h
@@ -824,7 +824,6 @@ void ff_print_debug_info2(AVCodecContext *avctx, Picture *p, AVFrame *pict, uint
 int ff_mpv_export_qp_table(MpegEncContext *s, AVFrame *f, Picture *p, int qp_type);
 
 void ff_write_quant_matrix(PutBitContext *pb, uint16_t *matrix);
-void ff_release_unused_pictures(MpegEncContext *s, int remove_current);
 int ff_find_unused_picture(MpegEncContext *s, int shared);
 void ff_denoise_dct(MpegEncContext *s, int16_t *block);
 int ff_update_duplicate_context(MpegEncContext *dst, MpegEncContext *src);