diff --git a/doc/APIchanges b/doc/APIchanges
index bb19cbea7c..3fb9e12525 100644
--- a/doc/APIchanges
+++ b/doc/APIchanges
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ libavutil:     2017-10-21
 
 API changes, most recent first:
 
+2020-12-03 - xxxxxxxxxx - lavu 56.62.100 - timecode.h
+  Add av_timecode_init_from_components.
+
 2020-xx-xx - xxxxxxxxxx - lavc 58.114.100 - avcodec.h
   Deprecate AVCodecContext.thread_safe_callbacks. Starting with
   LIBAVCODEC_VERSION_MAJOR=60, user callbacks must always be
diff --git a/libavutil/timecode.c b/libavutil/timecode.c
index 7caa6c64f5..c1fa445d31 100644
--- a/libavutil/timecode.c
+++ b/libavutil/timecode.c
@@ -226,19 +226,12 @@ int av_timecode_init(AVTimecode *tc, AVRational rate, int flags, int frame_start
     return check_timecode(log_ctx, tc);
 }
 
-int av_timecode_init_from_string(AVTimecode *tc, AVRational rate, const char *str, void *log_ctx)
+int av_timecode_init_from_components(AVTimecode *tc, AVRational rate, int flags, int hh, int mm, int ss, int ff, void *log_ctx)
 {
-    char c;
-    int hh, mm, ss, ff, ret;
-
-    if (sscanf(str, "%d:%d:%d%c%d", &hh, &mm, &ss, &c, &ff) != 5) {
-        av_log(log_ctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Unable to parse timecode, "
-                                      "syntax: hh:mm:ss[:;.]ff\n");
-        return AVERROR_INVALIDDATA;
-    }
+    int ret;
 
     memset(tc, 0, sizeof(*tc));
-    tc->flags = c != ':' ? AV_TIMECODE_FLAG_DROPFRAME : 0; // drop if ';', '.', ...
+    tc->flags = flags;
     tc->rate  = rate;
     tc->fps   = fps_from_frame_rate(rate);
 
@@ -253,3 +246,18 @@ int av_timecode_init_from_string(AVTimecode *tc, AVRational rate, const char *st
     }
     return 0;
 }
+
+int av_timecode_init_from_string(AVTimecode *tc, AVRational rate, const char *str, void *log_ctx)
+{
+    char c;
+    int hh, mm, ss, ff, flags;
+
+    if (sscanf(str, "%d:%d:%d%c%d", &hh, &mm, &ss, &c, &ff) != 5) {
+        av_log(log_ctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Unable to parse timecode, "
+                                      "syntax: hh:mm:ss[:;.]ff\n");
+        return AVERROR_INVALIDDATA;
+    }
+    flags = c != ':' ? AV_TIMECODE_FLAG_DROPFRAME : 0; // drop if ';', '.', ...
+
+    return av_timecode_init_from_components(tc, rate, flags, hh, mm, ss, ff, log_ctx);
+}
diff --git a/libavutil/timecode.h b/libavutil/timecode.h
index 697e61180b..060574a172 100644
--- a/libavutil/timecode.h
+++ b/libavutil/timecode.h
@@ -160,6 +160,23 @@ char *av_timecode_make_mpeg_tc_string(char *buf, uint32_t tc25bit);
  */
 int av_timecode_init(AVTimecode *tc, AVRational rate, int flags, int frame_start, void *log_ctx);
 
+/**
+ * Init a timecode struct from the passed timecode components.
+ *
+ * @param log_ctx     a pointer to an arbitrary struct of which the first field
+ *                    is a pointer to an AVClass struct (used for av_log)
+ * @param tc          pointer to an allocated AVTimecode
+ * @param rate        frame rate in rational form
+ * @param flags       miscellaneous flags such as drop frame, +24 hours, ...
+ *                    (see AVTimecodeFlag)
+ * @param hh          hours
+ * @param mm          minutes
+ * @param ss          seconds
+ * @param ff          frames
+ * @return            0 on success, AVERROR otherwise
+ */
+int av_timecode_init_from_components(AVTimecode *tc, AVRational rate, int flags, int hh, int mm, int ss, int ff, void *log_ctx);
+
 /**
  * Parse timecode representation (hh:mm:ss[:;.]ff).
  *
diff --git a/libavutil/version.h b/libavutil/version.h
index 55a59d6c58..9b311b5b27 100644
--- a/libavutil/version.h
+++ b/libavutil/version.h
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
  */
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR  56
-#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR  61
+#define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MINOR  62
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MICRO 100
 
 #define LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_INT   AV_VERSION_INT(LIBAVUTIL_VERSION_MAJOR, \