diff --git a/libavcodec/me_cmp.c b/libavcodec/me_cmp.c
index 5e34a11593..67a5bb5c71 100644
--- a/libavcodec/me_cmp.c
+++ b/libavcodec/me_cmp.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 #include "libavutil/attributes.h"
 #include "libavutil/internal.h"
+#include "libavutil/thread.h"
 #include "avcodec.h"
 #include "copy_block.h"
 #include "simple_idct.h"
@@ -29,13 +30,47 @@
 #include "mpegvideo.h"
 #include "config.h"
 
-uint32_t ff_square_tab[512] = { 0, };
+/* (i - 256) * (i - 256) */
+const uint32_t ff_square_tab[512] = {
+    65536, 65025, 64516, 64009, 63504, 63001, 62500, 62001, 61504, 61009, 60516, 60025, 59536, 59049, 58564, 58081,
+    57600, 57121, 56644, 56169, 55696, 55225, 54756, 54289, 53824, 53361, 52900, 52441, 51984, 51529, 51076, 50625,
+    50176, 49729, 49284, 48841, 48400, 47961, 47524, 47089, 46656, 46225, 45796, 45369, 44944, 44521, 44100, 43681,
+    43264, 42849, 42436, 42025, 41616, 41209, 40804, 40401, 40000, 39601, 39204, 38809, 38416, 38025, 37636, 37249,
+    36864, 36481, 36100, 35721, 35344, 34969, 34596, 34225, 33856, 33489, 33124, 32761, 32400, 32041, 31684, 31329,
+    30976, 30625, 30276, 29929, 29584, 29241, 28900, 28561, 28224, 27889, 27556, 27225, 26896, 26569, 26244, 25921,
+    25600, 25281, 24964, 24649, 24336, 24025, 23716, 23409, 23104, 22801, 22500, 22201, 21904, 21609, 21316, 21025,
+    20736, 20449, 20164, 19881, 19600, 19321, 19044, 18769, 18496, 18225, 17956, 17689, 17424, 17161, 16900, 16641,
+    16384, 16129, 15876, 15625, 15376, 15129, 14884, 14641, 14400, 14161, 13924, 13689, 13456, 13225, 12996, 12769,
+    12544, 12321, 12100, 11881, 11664, 11449, 11236, 11025, 10816, 10609, 10404, 10201, 10000,  9801,  9604,  9409,
+     9216,  9025,  8836,  8649,  8464,  8281,  8100,  7921,  7744,  7569,  7396,  7225,  7056,  6889,  6724,  6561,
+     6400,  6241,  6084,  5929,  5776,  5625,  5476,  5329,  5184,  5041,  4900,  4761,  4624,  4489,  4356,  4225,
+     4096,  3969,  3844,  3721,  3600,  3481,  3364,  3249,  3136,  3025,  2916,  2809,  2704,  2601,  2500,  2401,
+     2304,  2209,  2116,  2025,  1936,  1849,  1764,  1681,  1600,  1521,  1444,  1369,  1296,  1225,  1156,  1089,
+     1024,   961,   900,   841,   784,   729,   676,   625,   576,   529,   484,   441,   400,   361,   324,   289,
+      256,   225,   196,   169,   144,   121,   100,    81,    64,    49,    36,    25,    16,     9,     4,     1,
+        0,     1,     4,     9,    16,    25,    36,    49,    64,    81,   100,   121,   144,   169,   196,   225,
+      256,   289,   324,   361,   400,   441,   484,   529,   576,   625,   676,   729,   784,   841,   900,   961,
+     1024,  1089,  1156,  1225,  1296,  1369,  1444,  1521,  1600,  1681,  1764,  1849,  1936,  2025,  2116,  2209,
+     2304,  2401,  2500,  2601,  2704,  2809,  2916,  3025,  3136,  3249,  3364,  3481,  3600,  3721,  3844,  3969,
+     4096,  4225,  4356,  4489,  4624,  4761,  4900,  5041,  5184,  5329,  5476,  5625,  5776,  5929,  6084,  6241,
+     6400,  6561,  6724,  6889,  7056,  7225,  7396,  7569,  7744,  7921,  8100,  8281,  8464,  8649,  8836,  9025,
+     9216,  9409,  9604,  9801, 10000, 10201, 10404, 10609, 10816, 11025, 11236, 11449, 11664, 11881, 12100, 12321,
+    12544, 12769, 12996, 13225, 13456, 13689, 13924, 14161, 14400, 14641, 14884, 15129, 15376, 15625, 15876, 16129,
+    16384, 16641, 16900, 17161, 17424, 17689, 17956, 18225, 18496, 18769, 19044, 19321, 19600, 19881, 20164, 20449,
+    20736, 21025, 21316, 21609, 21904, 22201, 22500, 22801, 23104, 23409, 23716, 24025, 24336, 24649, 24964, 25281,
+    25600, 25921, 26244, 26569, 26896, 27225, 27556, 27889, 28224, 28561, 28900, 29241, 29584, 29929, 30276, 30625,
+    30976, 31329, 31684, 32041, 32400, 32761, 33124, 33489, 33856, 34225, 34596, 34969, 35344, 35721, 36100, 36481,
+    36864, 37249, 37636, 38025, 38416, 38809, 39204, 39601, 40000, 40401, 40804, 41209, 41616, 42025, 42436, 42849,
+    43264, 43681, 44100, 44521, 44944, 45369, 45796, 46225, 46656, 47089, 47524, 47961, 48400, 48841, 49284, 49729,
+    50176, 50625, 51076, 51529, 51984, 52441, 52900, 53361, 53824, 54289, 54756, 55225, 55696, 56169, 56644, 57121,
+    57600, 58081, 58564, 59049, 59536, 60025, 60516, 61009, 61504, 62001, 62500, 63001, 63504, 64009, 64516, 65025,
+};
 
 static int sse4_c(MpegEncContext *v, uint8_t *pix1, uint8_t *pix2,
                   ptrdiff_t stride, int h)
 {
     int s = 0, i;
-    uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
+    const uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
 
     for (i = 0; i < h; i++) {
         s    += sq[pix1[0] - pix2[0]];
@@ -52,7 +87,7 @@ static int sse8_c(MpegEncContext *v, uint8_t *pix1, uint8_t *pix2,
                   ptrdiff_t stride, int h)
 {
     int s = 0, i;
-    uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
+    const uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
 
     for (i = 0; i < h; i++) {
         s    += sq[pix1[0] - pix2[0]];
@@ -73,7 +108,7 @@ static int sse16_c(MpegEncContext *v, uint8_t *pix1, uint8_t *pix2,
                    ptrdiff_t stride, int h)
 {
     int s = 0, i;
-    uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
+    const uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
 
     for (i = 0; i < h; i++) {
         s += sq[pix1[0]  - pix2[0]];
@@ -977,14 +1012,6 @@ WRAPPER8_16_SQ(quant_psnr8x8_c, quant_psnr16_c)
 WRAPPER8_16_SQ(rd8x8_c, rd16_c)
 WRAPPER8_16_SQ(bit8x8_c, bit16_c)
 
-av_cold void ff_me_cmp_init_static(void)
-{
-    int i;
-
-    for (i = 0; i < 512; i++)
-        ff_square_tab[i] = (i - 256) * (i - 256);
-}
-
 int ff_check_alignment(void)
 {
     static int did_fail = 0;
diff --git a/libavcodec/me_cmp.h b/libavcodec/me_cmp.h
index 0dbbcbb1d9..0a589e3c3d 100644
--- a/libavcodec/me_cmp.h
+++ b/libavcodec/me_cmp.h
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 
 #include "avcodec.h"
 
-extern uint32_t ff_square_tab[512];
+extern const uint32_t ff_square_tab[512];
 
 
 /* minimum alignment rules ;)
@@ -79,8 +79,6 @@ typedef struct MECmpContext {
     me_cmp_func median_sad[6];
 } MECmpContext;
 
-void ff_me_cmp_init_static(void);
-
 int ff_check_alignment(void);
 
 void ff_me_cmp_init(MECmpContext *c, AVCodecContext *avctx);
diff --git a/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c b/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
index f1f4989231..979e138b88 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mpegvideo_enc.c
@@ -2713,7 +2713,7 @@ static inline void encode_mb_hq(MpegEncContext *s, MpegEncContext *backup, MpegE
 }
 
 static int sse(MpegEncContext *s, uint8_t *src1, uint8_t *src2, int w, int h, int stride){
-    uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
+    const uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
     int acc=0;
     int x,y;
 
diff --git a/libavcodec/mpegvideoencdsp.c b/libavcodec/mpegvideoencdsp.c
index 0af3d8bef8..a34ab3553e 100644
--- a/libavcodec/mpegvideoencdsp.c
+++ b/libavcodec/mpegvideoencdsp.c
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ static int pix_sum_c(uint8_t *pix, int line_size)
 static int pix_norm1_c(uint8_t *pix, int line_size)
 {
     int s = 0, i, j;
-    uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
+    const uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
 
     for (i = 0; i < 16; i++) {
         for (j = 0; j < 16; j += 8) {
diff --git a/libavcodec/snowenc.c b/libavcodec/snowenc.c
index 4fec377591..61a658fa44 100644
--- a/libavcodec/snowenc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/snowenc.c
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ static int pix_sum(uint8_t * pix, int line_size, int w, int h)
 static int pix_norm1(uint8_t * pix, int line_size, int w)
 {
     int s, i, j;
-    uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
+    const uint32_t *sq = ff_square_tab + 256;
 
     s = 0;
     for (i = 0; i < w; i++) {
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 4c718432ad..aefe631590 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -104,18 +104,6 @@ AVCodec *av_codec_next(const AVCodec *c)
         return first_avcodec;
 }
 
-static av_cold void avcodec_init(void)
-{
-    static int initialized = 0;
-
-    if (initialized != 0)
-        return;
-    initialized = 1;
-
-    if (CONFIG_ME_CMP)
-        ff_me_cmp_init_static();
-}
-
 int av_codec_is_encoder(const AVCodec *codec)
 {
     return codec && (codec->encode_sub || codec->encode2 ||codec->send_frame);
@@ -131,7 +119,6 @@ static AVMutex codec_register_mutex = AV_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
 av_cold void avcodec_register(AVCodec *codec)
 {
     AVCodec **p;
-    avcodec_init();
 
     ff_mutex_lock(&codec_register_mutex);
     p = last_avcodec;
