diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index ac95d168eb12105bcb391f8f9595ff76a03db352..64d15710c287d700f79fbfa3d6bd79df161a725e 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ libavutil:   2011-04-18
 
 API changes, most recent first:
 
+2011-08-xx - xxxxxxx - lavc 53.8.0
+  Add avcodec_get_type().
+
 2011-08-06 - 2f63440 - lavf 53.4.0
   Add error_recognition to AVFormatContext.
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index 5bc1878fd084f987f251fa87e3dcda508fa18bce..0859e0efdef716616fefa139f90dbb0bfdeb0441 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ enum CodecID {
     CODEC_ID_DFA,
 
     /* various PCM "codecs" */
+    CODEC_ID_FIRST_AUDIO = 0x10000,     ///< A dummy id pointing at the start of audio codecs
     CODEC_ID_PCM_S16LE= 0x10000,
     CODEC_ID_PCM_S16BE,
     CODEC_ID_PCM_U16LE,
@@ -340,6 +341,7 @@ enum CodecID {
     CODEC_ID_QDMC,
 
     /* subtitle codecs */
+    CODEC_ID_FIRST_SUBTITLE = 0x17000,          ///< A dummy ID pointing at the start of subtitle codecs.
     CODEC_ID_DVD_SUBTITLE= 0x17000,
     CODEC_ID_DVB_SUBTITLE,
     CODEC_ID_TEXT,  ///< raw UTF-8 text
@@ -351,6 +353,7 @@ enum CodecID {
     CODEC_ID_SRT,
 
     /* other specific kind of codecs (generally used for attachments) */
+    CODEC_ID_FIRST_UNKNOWN = 0x18000,           ///< A dummy ID pointing at the start of various fake codecs.
     CODEC_ID_TTF= 0x18000,
 
     CODEC_ID_PROBE= 0x19000, ///< codec_id is not known (like CODEC_ID_NONE) but lavf should attempt to identify it
@@ -4273,4 +4276,9 @@ enum AVLockOp {
  */
 int av_lockmgr_register(int (*cb)(void **mutex, enum AVLockOp op));
 
+/**
+ * Get the type of the given codec.
+ */
+enum AVMediaType avcodec_get_type(enum CodecID codec_id);
+
 #endif /* AVCODEC_AVCODEC_H */
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 0abab9a83d2686edd489700e26389804c9e9c01d..166fbec6079b0b8d8363c469858c158dc0ef656c 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -1301,3 +1301,17 @@ int avcodec_thread_init(AVCodecContext *s, int thread_count)
     return ff_thread_init(s);
 }
 #endif
+
+enum AVMediaType avcodec_get_type(enum CodecID codec_id)
+{
+    if (codec_id <= CODEC_ID_NONE)
+        return AVMEDIA_TYPE_UNKNOWN;
+    else if (codec_id < CODEC_ID_FIRST_AUDIO)
+        return AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO;
+    else if (codec_id < CODEC_ID_FIRST_SUBTITLE)
+        return AVMEDIA_TYPE_AUDIO;
+    else if (codec_id < CODEC_ID_FIRST_UNKNOWN)
+        return AVMEDIA_TYPE_SUBTITLE;
+
+    return AVMEDIA_TYPE_UNKNOWN;
+}
diff --git a/libavcodec/version.h b/libavcodec/version.h
index 7eb5ce0424b70d6dadb72971e4f121496e36cddd..24a33d7e695e42ea884d3257f315ee6fdba1f956 100644
--- a/libavcodec/version.h
+++ b/libavcodec/version.h
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
 #define AVCODEC_VERSION_H
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR 53
-#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR  7
-#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MICRO  1
+#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR  8
+#define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MICRO  0
 
 #define LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_INT  AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR, \
                                                LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MINOR, \