diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index c3a519262103c78f123596550d0e1d74e5205e3b..fed72bb69b9968c1133032f86d5f3019df37a784 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -1257,6 +1257,16 @@ typedef struct AVFrame {
      * - decoding: Read by user.
      */
     int64_t pkt_pos;
+
+    /**
+     * channel layout of the audio frame
+     * - encoding: unused
+     * - decoding: read by user.
+     * Code outside libavcodec should access this field using:
+     * av_opt_ptr(avcodec_get_frame_class(), frame, "channel_layout")
+     */
+    int64_t channel_layout;
+
 } AVFrame;
 
 struct AVCodecInternal;
diff --git a/libavcodec/options.c b/libavcodec/options.c
index ef598d587159c68427fbb925b5f53c829de4c3c3..173729cbc2bc88276603def8fd065e2c3b4e0f1b 100644
--- a/libavcodec/options.c
+++ b/libavcodec/options.c
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ static const AVOption frame_options[]={
 {"width", "", FOFFSET(width), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.dbl = 0 }, 0, INT_MAX, 0},
 {"height", "", FOFFSET(height), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.dbl = 0 }, 0, INT_MAX, 0},
 {"format", "", FOFFSET(format), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.dbl = -1 }, 0, INT_MAX, 0},
+{"channel_layout", "", FOFFSET(channel_layout), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT64, {.dbl = 0 }, 0, INT64_MAX, 0},
 {NULL},
 };
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index bd97431bb2a46b18a73942dc0a6fb822d327c4f3..85c635138009a12cfd3bcf7e0b05cf9c297efb79 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -1545,6 +1545,8 @@ int attribute_align_arg avcodec_decode_audio4(AVCodecContext *avctx,
             frame->pkt_dts = avpkt->dts;
             if (frame->format == AV_SAMPLE_FMT_NONE)
                 frame->format = avctx->sample_fmt;
+            if (!frame->channel_layout)
+                frame->channel_layout = avctx->channel_layout;
         }
 
         avctx->pkt = NULL;