diff --git a/libavfilter/drawutils.c b/libavfilter/drawutils.c
index 6f7dca021b..f7e3adf9e8 100644
--- a/libavfilter/drawutils.c
+++ b/libavfilter/drawutils.c
@@ -164,6 +164,12 @@ int ff_draw_init2(FFDrawContext *draw, enum AVPixelFormat format, enum AVColorSp
     return 0;
 }
 
+int ff_draw_init_from_link(FFDrawContext *draw, const AVFilterLink *link,
+                           unsigned flags)
+{
+    return ff_draw_init2(draw, link->format, link->colorspace, link->color_range, flags);
+}
+
 int ff_draw_init(FFDrawContext *draw, enum AVPixelFormat format, unsigned flags)
 {
     return ff_draw_init2(draw, format, AVCOL_SPC_UNSPECIFIED, AVCOL_RANGE_UNSPECIFIED, flags);
diff --git a/libavfilter/drawutils.h b/libavfilter/drawutils.h
index f4903d1a86..c68a78e84b 100644
--- a/libavfilter/drawutils.h
+++ b/libavfilter/drawutils.h
@@ -80,6 +80,13 @@ typedef struct FFDrawColor {
 int ff_draw_init2(FFDrawContext *draw, enum AVPixelFormat format, enum AVColorSpace csp,
                   enum AVColorRange range, unsigned flags);
 
+/**
+ * Init a draw context, taking the format, colorspace and range from the given
+ * filter link.
+ */
+int ff_draw_init_from_link(FFDrawContext *draw, const AVFilterLink *link,
+                           unsigned flags);
+
 /*
  * Legacy wrapper for ff_draw_init2.
  */