diff --git a/libavcodec/refstruct.c b/libavcodec/refstruct.c
index 9a6575f987..2e055d539e 100644
--- a/libavcodec/refstruct.c
+++ b/libavcodec/refstruct.c
@@ -113,11 +113,6 @@ void *ff_refstruct_alloc_ext_c(size_t size, unsigned flags, FFRefStructOpaque op
     return obj;
 }
 
-void *ff_refstruct_allocz(size_t size)
-{
-    return ff_refstruct_alloc_ext(size, 0, NULL, NULL);
-}
-
 void ff_refstruct_unref(void *objp)
 {
     void *obj;
diff --git a/libavcodec/refstruct.h b/libavcodec/refstruct.h
index ee6936d77a..8b0723a982 100644
--- a/libavcodec/refstruct.h
+++ b/libavcodec/refstruct.h
@@ -101,7 +101,11 @@ void *ff_refstruct_alloc_ext(size_t size, unsigned flags, void *opaque,
 /**
  * Equivalent to ff_refstruct_alloc_ext(size, 0, NULL, NULL)
  */
-void *ff_refstruct_allocz(size_t size);
+static inline
+void *ff_refstruct_allocz(size_t size)
+{
+    return ff_refstruct_alloc_ext(size, 0, NULL, NULL);
+}
 
 /**
  * Decrement the reference count of the underlying object and automatically