diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 6e5c40a588d88e7a23126ee90cb66a07255d09bd..750ab43bea190f39282d61bdee445be9c6fe751a 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -994,7 +994,6 @@ int avcodec_close(AVCodecContext *avctx)
         avctx->codec->close(avctx);
     avcodec_default_free_buffers(avctx);
     av_freep(&avctx->priv_data);
-    av_freep(&avctx->rc_eq);
     avctx->codec = NULL;
     entangled_thread_counter--;
     return 0;