diff --git a/libavformat/hlsenc.c b/libavformat/hlsenc.c
index 77e49b44b1..02bd5c3528 100644
--- a/libavformat/hlsenc.c
+++ b/libavformat/hlsenc.c
@@ -173,17 +173,17 @@ typedef struct VariantStream {
     unsigned int nb_streams;
     int m3u8_created; /* status of media play-list creation */
     int is_default; /* default status of audio group */
-    char *language; /* audio lauguage name */
-    char *agroup; /* audio group name */
-    char *sgroup; /* subtitle group name */
-    char *ccgroup; /* closed caption group name */
-    char *varname; // variant name
+    const char *language; /* audio lauguage name */
+    const char *agroup;   /* audio group name */
+    const char *sgroup;   /* subtitle group name */
+    const char *ccgroup;  /* closed caption group name */
+    const char *varname;  /* variant name */
 } VariantStream;
 
 typedef struct ClosedCaptionsStream {
-    char *ccgroup; /* closed caption group name */
-    char *instreamid; /* closed captions INSTREAM-ID */
-    char *language; /* closed captions langauge */
+    const char *ccgroup;    /* closed caption group name */
+    const char *instreamid; /* closed captions INSTREAM-ID */
+    const char *language;   /* closed captions langauge */
 } ClosedCaptionsStream;
 
 typedef struct HLSContext {
@@ -1290,8 +1290,8 @@ static int create_master_playlist(AVFormatContext *s,
     int ret, bandwidth;
     const char *m3u8_rel_name = NULL;
     const char *vtt_m3u8_rel_name = NULL;
-    char *ccgroup;
-    char *sgroup = NULL;
+    const char *ccgroup;
+    const char *sgroup = NULL;
     ClosedCaptionsStream *ccs;
     const char *proto = avio_find_protocol_name(hls->master_m3u8_url);
     int is_file_proto = proto && !strcmp(proto, "file");
@@ -1962,10 +1962,7 @@ static int parse_variant_stream_mapstring(AVFormatContext *s)
             char *end;
             varstr = NULL;
             if (av_strstart(keyval, "language:", &val)) {
-                av_free(vs->language);
-                vs->language = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!vs->language)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                vs->language = val;
                 continue;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "default:", &val)) {
                 vs->is_default = (!av_strncasecmp(val, "YES", strlen("YES")) ||
@@ -1973,28 +1970,16 @@ static int parse_variant_stream_mapstring(AVFormatContext *s)
                 hls->has_default_key = 1;
                 continue;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "name:", &val)) {
-                av_free(vs->varname);
-                vs->varname = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!vs->varname)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                vs->varname  = val;
                 continue;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "agroup:", &val)) {
-                av_free(vs->agroup);
-                vs->agroup = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!vs->agroup)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                vs->agroup   = val;
                 continue;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "sgroup:", &val)) {
-                av_free(vs->sgroup);
-                vs->sgroup = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!vs->sgroup)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                vs->sgroup   = val;
                 continue;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "ccgroup:", &val)) {
-                av_free(vs->ccgroup);
-                vs->ccgroup = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!vs->ccgroup)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                vs->ccgroup  = val;
                 continue;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "v:", &val)) {
                 codec_type = AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO;
@@ -2085,20 +2070,11 @@ static int parse_cc_stream_mapstring(AVFormatContext *s)
             ccstr = NULL;
 
             if (av_strstart(keyval, "ccgroup:", &val)) {
-                av_free(ccs->ccgroup);
-                ccs->ccgroup = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!ccs->ccgroup)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                ccs->ccgroup    = val;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "instreamid:", &val)) {
-                av_free(ccs->instreamid);
-                ccs->instreamid = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!ccs->instreamid)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                ccs->instreamid = val;
             } else if (av_strstart(keyval, "language:", &val)) {
-                av_free(ccs->language);
-                ccs->language = av_strdup(val);
-                if (!ccs->language)
-                    return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+                ccs->language   = val;
             } else {
                 av_log(s, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Invalid keyval %s\n", keyval);
                 return AVERROR(EINVAL);
@@ -2162,9 +2138,7 @@ static int update_variant_stream_info(AVFormatContext *s)
 
         //by default, the first available ccgroup is mapped to the variant stream
         if (hls->nb_ccstreams) {
-            hls->var_streams[0].ccgroup = av_strdup(hls->cc_streams[0].ccgroup);
-            if (!hls->var_streams[0].ccgroup)
-                return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+            hls->var_streams[0].ccgroup = hls->cc_streams[0].ccgroup;
         }
 
         for (i = 0; i < s->nb_streams; i++)
@@ -2576,19 +2550,6 @@ static void hls_deinit(AVFormatContext *s)
         hls_free_segments(vs->old_segments);
         av_freep(&vs->m3u8_name);
         av_freep(&vs->streams);
-        av_freep(&vs->agroup);
-        av_freep(&vs->sgroup);
-        av_freep(&vs->language);
-        av_freep(&vs->ccgroup);
-        av_freep(&vs->varname);
-    }
-
-    for (i = 0; i < hls->nb_ccstreams; i++) {
-        ClosedCaptionsStream *ccs = &hls->cc_streams[i];
-
-        av_freep(&ccs->ccgroup);
-        av_freep(&ccs->instreamid);
-        av_freep(&ccs->language);
     }
 
     ff_format_io_close(s, &hls->m3u8_out);