diff --git a/devices/src/virtio/video/decoder/backend/ffmpeg.rs b/devices/src/virtio/video/decoder/backend/ffmpeg.rs
index 102abac5eb..ac93887487 100644
--- a/devices/src/virtio/video/decoder/backend/ffmpeg.rs
+++ b/devices/src/virtio/video/decoder/backend/ffmpeg.rs
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ impl AvBufferSource for InputBuffer {
 
 /// Types of input job we can receive from the crosvm decoder code.
 enum CodecJob {
-    Packet(InputBuffer),
+    Packet(AvPacket<'static>),
     Flush,
 }
 
@@ -214,10 +214,9 @@ impl FfmpegDecoderSession {
     /// input at the moment.
     fn try_send_packet(
         &mut self,
-        input_packet: &mut InputBuffer,
+        input_packet: &AvPacket<'static>,
     ) -> Result<bool, TrySendPacketError> {
-        let avpacket = AvPacket::new(input_packet.bitstream_id as i64, input_packet);
-        match self.context.try_send_packet(&avpacket) {
+        match self.context.try_send_packet(input_packet) {
             Ok(true) => Ok(true),
             // The codec cannot take more input at the moment, we'll try again after we receive some
             // frames.
@@ -452,7 +451,11 @@ impl DecoderSession for FfmpegDecoderSession {
             event_queue: Arc::downgrade(&self.event_queue),
         };
 
-        self.codec_jobs.push_back(CodecJob::Packet(input_buffer));
+        let avpacket = AvPacket::new_owned(bitstream_id as i64, input_buffer)
+            .context("while creating AvPacket")
+            .map_err(VideoError::BackendFailure)?;
+
+        self.codec_jobs.push_back(CodecJob::Packet(avpacket));
 
         self.try_decode()
             .context("while decoding")