diff --git a/libavcodec/avcodec.h b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
index c195ad5b189026d88916144d9f0dcac9336593f8..49d2a0f91814ee14e53e854f130865043a970abf 100644
--- a/libavcodec/avcodec.h
+++ b/libavcodec/avcodec.h
@@ -4070,6 +4070,11 @@ int avcodec_open2(AVCodecContext *avctx, AVCodec *codec, AVDictionary **options)
  * @warning The end of the input buffer avpkt->data should be set to 0 to ensure that
  * no overreading happens for damaged MPEG streams.
  *
+ * @warning You must not provide a custom get_buffer() when using
+ * avcodec_decode_audio3().  Doing so will override it with
+ * avcodec_default_get_buffer.  Use avcodec_decode_audio4() instead,
+ * which does allow the application to provide a custom get_buffer().
+ *
  * @note You might have to align the input buffer avpkt->data and output buffer
  * samples. The alignment requirements depend on the CPU: On some CPUs it isn't
  * necessary at all, on others it won't work at all if not aligned and on others
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 6f4d7e68da28659a85edfa036596061729bbb7b4..8473aacb4f71fd0d3929642f267bba3c13836a2f 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -933,9 +933,11 @@ int attribute_align_arg avcodec_decode_audio3(AVCodecContext *avctx, int16_t *sa
     int ret, got_frame = 0;
 
     if (avctx->get_buffer != avcodec_default_get_buffer) {
-        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "A custom get_buffer() cannot be used with "
-               "avcodec_decode_audio3()\n");
-        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
+        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Custom get_buffer() for use with"
+               "avcodec_decode_audio3() detected. Overriding with avcodec_default_get_buffer\n");
+        av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Please port your application to "
+               "avcodec_decode_audio4()\n");
+        avctx->get_buffer = avcodec_default_get_buffer;
     }
 
     ret = avcodec_decode_audio4(avctx, &frame, &got_frame, avpkt);