diff --git a/libavfilter/vf_slicify.c b/libavfilter/vf_slicify.c
index d1c9fbc6ac..e2ac594611 100644
--- a/libavfilter/vf_slicify.c
+++ b/libavfilter/vf_slicify.c
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 typedef struct {
     int h;          ///< output slice height
     int vshift;     ///< vertical chroma subsampling shift
+    uint32_t lcg_state; ///< LCG state used to compute random slice height
+    int use_random_h;   ///< enable the use of random slice height values
 } SliceContext;
 
 static av_cold int init(AVFilterContext *ctx, const char *args, void *opaque)
@@ -36,9 +38,13 @@ static av_cold int init(AVFilterContext *ctx, const char *args, void *opaque)
     SliceContext *slice = ctx->priv;
 
     slice->h = 16;
-    if (args)
-        sscanf(args, "%d", &slice->h);
-
+    if (args) {
+        if (!strcmp(args, "random")) {
+            slice->use_random_h = 1;
+        } else {
+            sscanf(args, "%d", &slice->h);
+        }
+    }
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -48,12 +54,6 @@ static int config_props(AVFilterLink *link)
 
     slice->vshift = av_pix_fmt_descriptors[link->format].log2_chroma_h;
 
-    /* ensure that slices play nice with chroma subsampling, and enforce
-     * a reasonable minimum size for the slices */
-    slice->h = FFMAX(8, slice->h & (-1 << slice->vshift));
-
-    av_log(link->dst, AV_LOG_INFO, "h:%d\n", slice->h);
-
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -65,6 +65,19 @@ static AVFilterPicRef *get_video_buffer(AVFilterLink *link, int perms,
 
 static void start_frame(AVFilterLink *link, AVFilterPicRef *picref)
 {
+    SliceContext *slice = link->dst->priv;
+
+    if (slice->use_random_h) {
+        slice->lcg_state = slice->lcg_state * 1664525 + 1013904223;
+        slice->h = 8 + (uint64_t)slice->lcg_state * 25 / UINT32_MAX;
+    }
+
+    /* ensure that slices play nice with chroma subsampling, and enforce
+     * a reasonable minimum size for the slices */
+    slice->h = FFMAX(8, slice->h & (-1 << slice->vshift));
+
+    av_log(link->dst, AV_LOG_DEBUG, "h:%d\n", slice->h);
+
     avfilter_start_frame(link->dst->outputs[0], picref);
 }