diff --git a/libavcodec/decode.c b/libavcodec/decode.c
index 097691dd58..6584c5b5ca 100644
--- a/libavcodec/decode.c
+++ b/libavcodec/decode.c
@@ -936,6 +936,18 @@ static int utf8_check(const uint8_t *str)
     return 1;
 }
 
+const char *ff_decode_subtitle_text(AVCodecContext *avctx, const AVPacket *avpkt)
+{
+    AVPacket *copy = avctx->internal->buffer_pkt;
+
+    if (avpkt->size <= 0 || !avpkt->data[avpkt->size])
+        return avpkt->data;
+    if (av_new_packet(copy, avpkt->size) < 0)
+        return NULL;
+    memcpy(copy->data, avpkt->data, avpkt->size);
+    return copy->data;
+}
+
 int avcodec_decode_subtitle2(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVSubtitle *sub,
                              int *got_sub_ptr, const AVPacket *avpkt)
 {
@@ -967,8 +979,7 @@ int avcodec_decode_subtitle2(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVSubtitle *sub,
             sub->pts = av_rescale_q(avpkt->pts,
                                     avctx->pkt_timebase, AV_TIME_BASE_Q);
         ret = ffcodec(avctx->codec)->cb.decode_sub(avctx, sub, got_sub_ptr, pkt);
-        if (pkt == avci->buffer_pkt) // did we recode?
-            av_packet_unref(avci->buffer_pkt);
+        av_packet_unref(avci->buffer_pkt);
         if (ret < 0) {
             *got_sub_ptr = 0;
             avsubtitle_free(sub);
diff --git a/libavcodec/decode.h b/libavcodec/decode.h
index 42f5e1e9df..cfe0a11ce5 100644
--- a/libavcodec/decode.h
+++ b/libavcodec/decode.h
@@ -241,4 +241,13 @@ int ff_decode_content_light_new_ext(const AVCodecContext *avctx,
                                     AVFrameSideData ***sd, int *nb_sd,
                                     struct AVContentLightMetadata **clm);
 
+/**
+ * Get the data of a subtitle packet followed by a 0 byte.
+ *
+ * @return avpkt->data if avpkt->size <= 0 or its first padding byte is 0,
+ *         otherwise a copy valid until the decode callback returns,
+ *         NULL on allocation failure
+ */
+const char *ff_decode_subtitle_text(AVCodecContext *avctx, const AVPacket *avpkt);
+
 #endif /* AVCODEC_DECODE_H */