diff --git a/ffmpeg_vdpau.c b/ffmpeg_vdpau.c
index cf2e83e8a3..d4b4bd6b41 100644
--- a/ffmpeg_vdpau.c
+++ b/ffmpeg_vdpau.c
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
 
 #include "libavcodec/vdpau.h"
 
-#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
 #include "libavutil/buffer.h"
 #include "libavutil/frame.h"
 #include "libavutil/hwcontext.h"
diff --git a/libavcodec/ac3dsp.c b/libavcodec/ac3dsp.c
index fe87b5bde5..9902f905f0 100644
--- a/libavcodec/ac3dsp.c
+++ b/libavcodec/ac3dsp.c
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
  * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
  */
 
-#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
 #include "avcodec.h"
 #include "ac3.h"
 #include "ac3dsp.h"
diff --git a/libavcodec/ffv1.c b/libavcodec/ffv1.c
index 537409e4ed..60eb523e45 100644
--- a/libavcodec/ffv1.c
+++ b/libavcodec/ffv1.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "libavutil/imgutils.h"
 #include "libavutil/pixdesc.h"
 #include "libavutil/timer.h"
+
 #include "avcodec.h"
 #include "internal.h"
 #include "rangecoder.h"
diff --git a/libavcodec/libopusdec.c b/libavcodec/libopusdec.c
index 1e97604181..bdc948c0c3 100644
--- a/libavcodec/libopusdec.c
+++ b/libavcodec/libopusdec.c
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@
 #include <opus.h>
 #include <opus_multistream.h>
 
-#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
 #include "libavutil/internal.h"
 #include "libavutil/intreadwrite.h"
+
 #include "avcodec.h"
 #include "internal.h"
 #include "vorbis.h"
diff --git a/libavcodec/vdpau.c b/libavcodec/vdpau.c
index 057f907927..1d4c1ce743 100644
--- a/libavcodec/vdpau.c
+++ b/libavcodec/vdpau.c
@@ -22,19 +22,26 @@
  */
 
 #include <limits.h>
-#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
+
 #include "avcodec.h"
 #include "internal.h"
 #include "h264.h"
 #include "vc1.h"
-
-#undef NDEBUG
-#include <assert.h>
-
 #include "vdpau.h"
 #include "vdpau_compat.h"
 #include "vdpau_internal.h"
 
+// XXX: at the time of adding this ifdefery, av_assert* wasn't use outside.
+// When dropping it, make sure other av_assert* were not added since then.
+#if FF_API_BUFS_VDPAU
+#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
+#endif
+
+#if FF_API_VDPAU
+#undef NDEBUG
+#include <assert.h>
+#endif
+
 /**
  * @addtogroup VDPAU_Decoding
  *
diff --git a/libavfilter/vf_hwdownload.c b/libavfilter/vf_hwdownload.c
index 79ea82d4ec..1e8d81906d 100644
--- a/libavfilter/vf_hwdownload.c
+++ b/libavfilter/vf_hwdownload.c
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
  * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
  */
 
-#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
 #include "libavutil/buffer.h"
 #include "libavutil/hwcontext.h"
 #include "libavutil/log.h"
diff --git a/libavfilter/vf_pad.c b/libavfilter/vf_pad.c
index 35f955d3f7..dfc873cd39 100644
--- a/libavfilter/vf_pad.c
+++ b/libavfilter/vf_pad.c
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@
 #include "libavutil/eval.h"
 #include "libavutil/pixdesc.h"
 #include "libavutil/colorspace.h"
-#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
 #include "libavutil/imgutils.h"
 #include "libavutil/parseutils.h"
 #include "libavutil/mathematics.h"
diff --git a/libavformat/asfdec_o.c b/libavformat/asfdec_o.c
index 1c564a8339..64be1b6e99 100644
--- a/libavformat/asfdec_o.c
+++ b/libavformat/asfdec_o.c
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
  */
 
 #include "libavutil/attributes.h"
-#include "libavutil/avassert.h"
 #include "libavutil/avstring.h"
 #include "libavutil/bswap.h"
 #include "libavutil/common.h"
diff --git a/libswscale/ppc/yuv2rgb_altivec.c b/libswscale/ppc/yuv2rgb_altivec.c
index aae44031e8..c1e2852adb 100644
--- a/libswscale/ppc/yuv2rgb_altivec.c
+++ b/libswscale/ppc/yuv2rgb_altivec.c
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 
 #include "config.h"
 #include "libswscale/rgb2rgb.h"