diff --git a/doc/ffmpeg-codecs.texi b/doc/ffmpeg-codecs.texi
index 7252bf60f9cbc05506cd6e5d54b1d0026223b505..ba31a2125fbb9d94790182ce152535fe16e5d434 100644
--- a/doc/ffmpeg-codecs.texi
+++ b/doc/ffmpeg-codecs.texi
@@ -9,6 +9,14 @@
 
 @contents
 
+@chapter Description
+@c man begin DESCRIPTION
+
+This document describes the codecs (decoders and encoders) provided by
+the libavcodec library.
+
+@c man end DESCRIPTION
+
 @chapter Codec Options
 @c man begin CODEC OPTIONS