diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index 7b5b19a96b242f7e2b56283dfc1f2d5d0867b6df..5b865462d7fc18c65d28cee6f0309ba29528e265 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ libavutil:     2013-12-xx
 
 API changes, most recent first:
 
+2014-08-xx - xxxxxxx - lavu 53.21.0 - pixdesc.h
+  Support name aliases for pixel formats.
+
 2014-08-xx - xxxxxxx - lavc 55.57.2 - avcodec.h
 2014-08-xx - xxxxxxx - lavu 53.20.0 - frame.h
   Deprecate AVCodecContext.dtg_active_format and use side-data instead.
diff --git a/libavutil/pixdesc.c b/libavutil/pixdesc.c
index f2a3dd1a53341c7d6aebe1ff9a2372d4e2773ce2..54430125394a60f45e0ce81c848fe422547128da 100644
--- a/libavutil/pixdesc.c
+++ b/libavutil/pixdesc.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
+#include "avstring.h"
 #include "common.h"
 #include "pixfmt.h"
 #include "pixdesc.h"
@@ -1507,7 +1508,8 @@ static enum AVPixelFormat get_pix_fmt_internal(const char *name)
 
     for (pix_fmt = 0; pix_fmt < AV_PIX_FMT_NB; pix_fmt++)
         if (av_pix_fmt_descriptors[pix_fmt].name &&
-            !strcmp(av_pix_fmt_descriptors[pix_fmt].name, name))
+            (!strcmp(av_pix_fmt_descriptors[pix_fmt].name, name) ||
+             av_match_name(name, av_pix_fmt_descriptors[pix_fmt].alias)))
             return pix_fmt;
 
     return AV_PIX_FMT_NONE;
diff --git a/libavutil/pixdesc.h b/libavutil/pixdesc.h
index cfc3a045616bb4205548d1335f0b9dca8d45bc7b..1c9e0af11f315ad6daf05f46c8bd902d8afd778e 100644
--- a/libavutil/pixdesc.h
+++ b/libavutil/pixdesc.h
@@ -95,6 +95,11 @@ typedef struct AVPixFmtDescriptor {
      * comp[2].
      */
     AVComponentDescriptor comp[4];
+
+    /**
+     * Alternative comma-separated names.
+     */
+    const char *alias;
 } AVPixFmtDescriptor;
 
 /**
diff --git a/libavutil/version.h b/libavutil/version.h
index c5bd92705ec36e0b419d4cec7cf55100ce71fa8c..6f2873c6121cf03f41cb14669c29a1bd725b5b90 100644
--- a/libavutil/version.h
+++ b/libavutil/version.h
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@
  */
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR 53
-#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR 20
-#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MICRO  1
+#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR 21
+#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MICRO  0
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_INT   AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR, \
                                                LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR, \