diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index 7675ec0818..ed12ebd60e 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -138,6 +138,10 @@ API changes, most recent first:
 2012-03-26 - a67d9cf - lavfi 2.66.100
   Add avfilter_fill_frame_from_{audio_,}buffer_ref() functions.
 
+2013-xx-xx - xxxxxxx - lavu 52.7.0 - dict.h
+  Add av_dict_parse_string() to set multiple key/value pairs at once from a
+  string.
+
 2013-01-xx - xxxxxxx - lavu 52.6.0 - avstring.h
   Add av_strnstr()
 
diff --git a/doc/texi2pod.pl b/doc/texi2pod.pl
index 265f8c5815..358242537b 100755
--- a/doc/texi2pod.pl
+++ b/doc/texi2pod.pl
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ INF: while(<$inf>) {
         } elsif ($ended =~ /^(?:example|smallexample|display)$/) {
             $shift = "";
             $_ = "";        # need a paragraph break
-        } elsif ($ended =~ /^(?:itemize|enumerate|[fv]?table)$/) {
+        } elsif ($ended =~ /^(?:itemize|enumerate|(?:multi|[fv])?table)$/) {
             $_ = "\n=back\n";
             $ic = pop @icstack;
         } else {
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ INF: while(<$inf>) {
         $endw = "enumerate";
     };
 
-    /^\@([fv]?table)\s+(\@[a-z]+)/ and do {
+    /^\@((?:multi|[fv])?table)\s+(\@[a-z]+)/ and do {
         push @endwstack, $endw;
         push @icstack, $ic;
         $endw = $1;
@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@ INF: while(<$inf>) {
         $ic =~ s/\@(?:code|kbd)/C/;
         $ic =~ s/\@(?:dfn|var|emph|cite|i)/I/;
         $ic =~ s/\@(?:file)/F/;
+        $ic =~ s/\@(?:columnfractions)//;
         $_ = "\n=over 4\n";
     };
 
@@ -288,6 +289,21 @@ INF: while(<$inf>) {
         $_ = "";        # need a paragraph break
     };
 
+    /^\@item\s+(.*\S)\s*$/ and $endw eq "multitable" and do {
+        my $columns = $1;
+        $columns =~ s/\@tab/ : /;
+
+        $_ = "\n=item B&LT;". $columns ."&GT;\n";
+    };
+
+    /^\@tab\s+(.*\S)\s*$/ and $endw eq "multitable" and do {
+        my $columns = $1;
+        $columns =~ s/\@tab/ : /;
+
+        $_ = " : ". $columns;
+        $section =~ s/\n+\s+$//;
+    };
+
     /^\@itemx?\s*(.+)?$/ and do {
         if (defined $1) {
             # Entity escapes prevent munging by the <> processing below.
diff --git a/libavutil/dict.c b/libavutil/dict.c
index 7e7d1cc4a8..06f963cf62 100644
--- a/libavutil/dict.c
+++ b/libavutil/dict.c
@@ -110,6 +110,53 @@ int av_dict_set(AVDictionary **pm, const char *key, const char *value, int flags
     return 0;
 }
 
+static int parse_key_value_pair(AVDictionary **pm, const char **buf,
+                                const char *key_val_sep, const char *pairs_sep,
+                                int flags)
+{
+    char *key = av_get_token(buf, key_val_sep);
+    char *val = NULL;
+    int ret;
+
+    if (key && *key && strspn(*buf, key_val_sep)) {
+        (*buf)++;
+        val = av_get_token(buf, pairs_sep);
+    }
+
+    if (key && *key && val && *val)
+        ret = av_dict_set(pm, key, val, flags);
+    else
+        ret = AVERROR(EINVAL);
+
+    av_freep(&key);
+    av_freep(&val);
+
+    return ret;
+}
+
+int av_dict_parse_string(AVDictionary **pm, const char *str,
+                         const char *key_val_sep, const char *pairs_sep,
+                         int flags)
+{
+    int ret;
+
+    if (!str)
+        return 0;
+
+    /* ignore STRDUP flags */
+    flags &= ~(AV_DICT_DONT_STRDUP_KEY | AV_DICT_DONT_STRDUP_VAL);
+
+    while (*str) {
+        if ((ret = parse_key_value_pair(pm, &str, key_val_sep, pairs_sep, flags)) < 0)
+            return ret;
+
+        if (*str)
+            str++;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 void av_dict_free(AVDictionary **pm)
 {
     AVDictionary *m = *pm;
diff --git a/libavutil/dict.h b/libavutil/dict.h
index fde3650184..38f03a407f 100644
--- a/libavutil/dict.h
+++ b/libavutil/dict.h
@@ -112,6 +112,23 @@ int av_dict_count(const AVDictionary *m);
  */
 int av_dict_set(AVDictionary **pm, const char *key, const char *value, int flags);
 
+/**
+ * Parse the key/value pairs list and add to a dictionary.
+ *
+ * @param key_val_sep  a 0-terminated list of characters used to separate
+ *                     key from value
+ * @param pairs_sep    a 0-terminated list of characters used to separate
+ *                     two pairs from each other
+ * @param flags        flags to use when adding to dictionary.
+ *                     AV_DICT_DONT_STRDUP_KEY and AV_DICT_DONT_STRDUP_VAL
+ *                     are ignored since the key/value tokens will always
+ *                     be duplicated.
+ * @return             0 on success, negative AVERROR code on failure
+ */
+int av_dict_parse_string(AVDictionary **pm, const char *str,
+                         const char *key_val_sep, const char *pairs_sep,
+                         int flags);
+
 /**
  * Copy entries from one AVDictionary struct into another.
  * @param dst pointer to a pointer to a AVDictionary struct. If *dst is NULL,
diff --git a/libavutil/version.h b/libavutil/version.h
index ee3fd2d6a7..2b574f57ff 100644
--- a/libavutil/version.h
+++ b/libavutil/version.h
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
  */
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR  52
-#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR  16
+#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR  17
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MICRO 100
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_INT   AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR, \