diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index fce42e3b9dfbf6cab8bd67d9fabc5ca7cf564c18..e1bf4156a6cc3944ca312fffa723f028d1b58ad3 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ API changes, most recent first:
 201x-xx-xx - xxxxxxx - lavc 56.8.0 - avcodec.h
   Add AVCodecContext.sw_pix_fmt.
 
+2014-11-xx - xxxxxxx - lavu 54.6.0 - imgutils.h
+  Add utility functions for image manipulation: av_image_get_buffer_size()
+  av_image_fill_arrays() and av_image_copy_to_buffer().
+
 2014-11-xx - xxxxxxx - lavf 56.06.3 - avformat.h
   Add AVFormatContext.avoid_negative_ts.
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index 8a008c97c024235b16497245184ed34599eab9e5..025f1198bfc0d142c0830efd79ff72556f489756 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -4072,42 +4072,18 @@ int avpicture_alloc(AVPicture *picture, enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, i
 void avpicture_free(AVPicture *picture);
 
 /**
- * Fill in the AVPicture fields.
- * The fields of the given AVPicture are filled in by using the 'ptr' address
- * which points to the image data buffer. Depending on the specified picture
- * format, one or multiple image data pointers and line sizes will be set.
- * If a planar format is specified, several pointers will be set pointing to
- * the different picture planes and the line sizes of the different planes
- * will be stored in the lines_sizes array.
- * Call with ptr == NULL to get the required size for the ptr buffer.
+ * Fill in the AVPicture fields, always assume a linesize alignment of 1.
  *
- * To allocate the buffer and fill in the AVPicture fields in one call,
- * use avpicture_alloc().
- *
- * @param picture AVPicture whose fields are to be filled in
- * @param ptr Buffer which will contain or contains the actual image data
- * @param pix_fmt The format in which the picture data is stored.
- * @param width the width of the image in pixels
- * @param height the height of the image in pixels
- * @return size of the image data in bytes
+ * @see av_image_fill_arrays().
  */
 int avpicture_fill(AVPicture *picture, uint8_t *ptr,
                    enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height);
 
 /**
- * Copy pixel data from an AVPicture into a buffer.
- * The data is stored compactly, without any gaps for alignment or padding
- * which may be applied by avpicture_fill().
- *
- * @see avpicture_get_size()
+ * Copy pixel data from an AVPicture into a buffer, always assume a
+ * linesize alignment of 1.
  *
- * @param[in] src AVPicture containing image data
- * @param[in] pix_fmt The format in which the picture data is stored.
- * @param[in] width the width of the image in pixels.
- * @param[in] height the height of the image in pixels.
- * @param[out] dest A buffer into which picture data will be copied.
- * @param[in] dest_size The size of 'dest'.
- * @return The number of bytes written to dest, or a negative value (error code) on error.
+ * @see av_image_copy_to_buffer().
  */
 int avpicture_layout(const AVPicture* src, enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt,
                      int width, int height,
@@ -4116,14 +4092,9 @@ int avpicture_layout(const AVPicture* src, enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt,
 /**
  * Calculate the size in bytes that a picture of the given width and height
  * would occupy if stored in the given picture format.
- * Note that this returns the size of a compact representation as generated
- * by avpicture_layout(), which can be smaller than the size required for e.g.
- * avpicture_fill().
+ * Always assume a linesize alignment of 1.
  *
- * @param pix_fmt the given picture format
- * @param width the width of the image
- * @param height the height of the image
- * @return Image data size in bytes or -1 on error (e.g. too large dimensions).
+ * @see av_image_get_buffer_size().
  */
 int avpicture_get_size(enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height);
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/avpicture.c b/libavcodec/avpicture.c
index a50bbc497ffb8ab333b47973ffab154b5322a54b..6bde0f84457056781e148a35396cd7728cdd3f73 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avpicture.c
+++ b/libavcodec/avpicture.c
@@ -34,68 +34,22 @@
 int avpicture_fill(AVPicture *picture, uint8_t *ptr,
                    enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height)
 {
-    int ret;
-
-    if ((ret = av_image_check_size(width, height, 0, NULL)) < 0)
-        return ret;
-
-    if ((ret = av_image_fill_linesizes(picture->linesize, pix_fmt, width)) < 0)
-        return ret;
-
-    return av_image_fill_pointers(picture->data, pix_fmt,
-                                  height, ptr, picture->linesize);
+    return av_image_fill_arrays(picture->data, picture->linesize,
+                                ptr, pix_fmt, width, height, 1);
 }
 
 int avpicture_layout(const AVPicture* src, enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt,
                      int width, int height,
                      unsigned char *dest, int dest_size)
 {
-    int i, j, nb_planes = 0, linesizes[4];
-    const AVPixFmtDescriptor *desc = av_pix_fmt_desc_get(pix_fmt);
-    int size = avpicture_get_size(pix_fmt, width, height);
-
-    if (size > dest_size || size < 0)
-        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
-
-    for (i = 0; i < desc->nb_components; i++)
-        nb_planes = FFMAX(desc->comp[i].plane, nb_planes);
-
-    nb_planes++;
-
-    av_image_fill_linesizes(linesizes, pix_fmt, width);
-    for (i = 0; i < nb_planes; i++) {
-        int h, shift = (i == 1 || i == 2) ? desc->log2_chroma_h : 0;
-        const unsigned char *s = src->data[i];
-        h = (height + (1 << shift) - 1) >> shift;
-
-        for (j = 0; j < h; j++) {
-            memcpy(dest, s, linesizes[i]);
-            dest += linesizes[i];
-            s += src->linesize[i];
-        }
-    }
-
-    if (desc->flags & AV_PIX_FMT_FLAG_PAL)
-        memcpy((unsigned char *)(((size_t)dest + 3) & ~3),
-               src->data[1], 256 * 4);
-
-    return size;
+    return av_image_copy_to_buffer(dest, dest_size,
+                                   src->data, src->linesize,
+                                   pix_fmt, width, height, 1);
 }
 
 int avpicture_get_size(enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height)
 {
-    const AVPixFmtDescriptor *desc = av_pix_fmt_desc_get(pix_fmt);
-    AVPicture dummy_pict;
-    int ret;
-
-    if (!desc)
-        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
-    if ((ret = av_image_check_size(width, height, 0, NULL)) < 0)
-        return ret;
-    if (desc->flags & AV_PIX_FMT_FLAG_PSEUDOPAL)
-        // do not include palette for these pseudo-paletted formats
-        return width * height;
-    return avpicture_fill(&dummy_pict, NULL, pix_fmt, width, height);
+    return av_image_get_buffer_size(pix_fmt, width, height, 1);
 }
 
 int avpicture_alloc(AVPicture *picture,
diff --git a/libavutil/imgutils.c b/libavutil/imgutils.c
index fc367d921be634448e0b372a5b339082a4745445..948a6f784a76dc3c7dc1ed2f43377a764a153c9d 100644
--- a/libavutil/imgutils.c
+++ b/libavutil/imgutils.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include "common.h"
 #include "imgutils.h"
 #include "internal.h"
+#include "intreadwrite.h"
 #include "log.h"
 #include "mathematics.h"
 #include "pixdesc.h"
@@ -298,3 +299,83 @@ void av_image_copy(uint8_t *dst_data[4], int dst_linesizes[4],
         }
     }
 }
+
+int av_image_fill_arrays(uint8_t *dst_data[4], int dst_linesize[4],
+                         const uint8_t *src, enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt,
+                         int width, int height, int align)
+{
+    int ret, i;
+
+    ret = av_image_check_size(width, height, 0, NULL);
+    if (ret < 0)
+        return ret;
+
+    ret = av_image_fill_linesizes(dst_linesize, pix_fmt, width);
+    if (ret < 0)
+        return ret;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
+        dst_linesize[i] = FFALIGN(dst_linesize[i], align);
+
+    return av_image_fill_pointers(dst_data, pix_fmt, height, src, dst_linesize);
+}
+
+int av_image_get_buffer_size(enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt,
+                             int width, int height, int align)
+{
+    uint8_t *data[4];
+    int linesize[4];
+    int ret;
+    const AVPixFmtDescriptor *desc = av_pix_fmt_desc_get(pix_fmt);
+    if (!desc)
+        return AVERROR_BUG;
+
+    ret = av_image_check_size(width, height, 0, NULL);
+    if (ret < 0)
+        return ret;
+
+    // do not include palette for these pseudo-paletted formats
+    if (desc->flags & AV_PIX_FMT_FLAG_PSEUDOPAL)
+        return width * height;
+
+    return av_image_fill_arrays(data, linesize, NULL, pix_fmt,
+                                width, height, align);
+}
+
+int av_image_copy_to_buffer(uint8_t *dst, int dst_size,
+                            const uint8_t * const src_data[4],
+                            const int src_linesize[4],
+                            enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt,
+                            int width, int height, int align)
+{
+    int i, j, nb_planes = 0, linesize[4];
+    int size = av_image_get_buffer_size(pix_fmt, width, height, align);
+    const AVPixFmtDescriptor *desc = av_pix_fmt_desc_get(pix_fmt);
+
+    if (size > dst_size || size < 0 || !desc)
+        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
+
+    for (i = 0; i < desc->nb_components; i++)
+        nb_planes = FFMAX(desc->comp[i].plane, nb_planes);
+
+    nb_planes++;
+
+    av_image_fill_linesizes(linesize, pix_fmt, width);
+    for (i = 0; i < nb_planes; i++) {
+        int h, shift = (i == 1 || i == 2) ? desc->log2_chroma_h : 0;
+        const uint8_t *src = src_data[i];
+        h = (height + (1 << shift) - 1) >> shift;
+
+        for (j = 0; j < h; j++) {
+            memcpy(dst, src, linesize[i]);
+            dst += FFALIGN(linesize[i], align);
+            src += src_linesize[i];
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (desc->flags & AV_PIX_FMT_FLAG_PAL)
+        memcpy((unsigned char *)(((size_t)dst + 3) & ~3),
+               src_data[1], 256 * 4);
+
+    return size;
+}
diff --git a/libavutil/imgutils.h b/libavutil/imgutils.h
index 50fa8159e82a5a08e7f91d3d445501f00ad631f2..efb4eb249436b91e4118725d47856c9af1b6eaaa 100644
--- a/libavutil/imgutils.h
+++ b/libavutil/imgutils.h
@@ -117,6 +117,65 @@ void av_image_copy(uint8_t *dst_data[4], int dst_linesizes[4],
                    const uint8_t *src_data[4], const int src_linesizes[4],
                    enum AVPixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height);
 
+/**
+ * Setup the data pointers and linesizes based on the specified image
+ * parameters and the provided array.
+ *
+ * The fields of the given image are filled in by using the src
+ * address which points to the image data buffer. Depending on the
+ * specified pixel format, one or multiple image data pointers and
+ * line sizes will be set.  If a planar format is specified, several
+ * pointers will be set pointing to the different picture planes and
+ * the line sizes of the different planes will be stored in the
+ * lines_sizes array. Call with src == NULL to get the required
+ * size for the src buffer.
+ *
+ * To allocate the buffer and fill in the dst_data and dst_linesize in
+ * one call, use av_image_alloc().
+ *
+ * @param dst_data      data pointers to be filled in
+ * @param dst_linesizes linesizes for the image in dst_data to be filled in
+ * @param src           buffer which will contain or contains the actual image data, can be NULL
+ * @param pix_fmt       the pixel format of the image
+ * @param width         the width of the image in pixels
+ * @param height        the height of the image in pixels
+ * @param align         the value used in src for linesize alignment
+ * @return the size in bytes required for src, a negative error code
+ * in case of failure
+ */
+int av_image_fill_arrays(uint8_t *dst_data[4], int dst_linesize[4],
+                         const uint8_t *src,
+                         enum PixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height, int align);
+
+/**
+ * Return the size in bytes of the amount of data required to store an
+ * image with the given parameters.
+ *
+ * @param[in] align the assumed linesize alignment
+ */
+int av_image_get_buffer_size(enum PixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height, int align);
+
+/**
+ * Copy image data from an image into a buffer.
+ *
+ * av_image_get_buffer_size() can be used to compute the required size
+ * for the buffer to fill.
+ *
+ * @param dst           a buffer into which picture data will be copied
+ * @param dst_size      the size in bytes of dst
+ * @param src_data      pointers containing the source image data
+ * @param src_linesizes linesizes for the image in src_data
+ * @param pix_fmt       the pixel format of the source image
+ * @param width         the width of the source image in pixels
+ * @param height        the height of the source image in pixels
+ * @param align         the assumed linesize alignment for dst
+ * @return the number of bytes written to dst, or a negative value
+ * (error code) on error
+ */
+int av_image_copy_to_buffer(uint8_t *dst, int dst_size,
+                            const uint8_t * const src_data[4], const int src_linesize[4],
+                            enum PixelFormat pix_fmt, int width, int height, int align);
+
 /**
  * Check if the given dimension of an image is valid, meaning that all
  * bytes of the image can be addressed with a signed int.
diff --git a/libavutil/version.h b/libavutil/version.h
index b40009e621c95031e7d9d73f2414e0219f04aa98..215ecb20569272aed4331847c96a3064a9966e7b 100644
--- a/libavutil/version.h
+++ b/libavutil/version.h
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
  */
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR 54
-#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR  5
+#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR  6
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MICRO  0
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_INT   AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR, \