diff --git a/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/surface.c b/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/surface.c
index 4f072809fc9..de092ecfe1b 100644
--- a/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/surface.c
+++ b/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/surface.c
@@ -82,14 +82,7 @@ vlVdpVideoSurfaceCreate(VdpDevice device, VdpChromaType chroma_type,
 
    mtx_lock(&dev->mutex);
    memset(&p_surf->templat, 0, sizeof(p_surf->templat));
-   /* TODO: buffer_format should be selected to match chroma_type */
-   p_surf->templat.buffer_format = pipe->screen->get_video_param
-   (
-      pipe->screen,
-      PIPE_VIDEO_PROFILE_UNKNOWN,
-      PIPE_VIDEO_ENTRYPOINT_BITSTREAM,
-      PIPE_VIDEO_CAP_PREFERED_FORMAT
-   );
+   p_surf->templat.buffer_format = ChromaToPipeFormat(chroma_type);
    p_surf->templat.width = width;
    p_surf->templat.height = height;
    p_surf->templat.interlaced = pipe->screen->get_video_param
diff --git a/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/vdpau_private.h b/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/vdpau_private.h
index 08f9b64a1d2..ffa8aa6f41b 100644
--- a/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/vdpau_private.h
+++ b/src/gallium/frontends/vdpau/vdpau_private.h
@@ -162,6 +162,23 @@ FormatYCBCRToPipe(VdpYCbCrFormat vdpau_format)
 
 }
 
+static inline enum pipe_format
+ChromaToPipeFormat(VdpChromaType vdpau_type)
+{
+   switch (vdpau_type) {
+      case VDP_CHROMA_TYPE_420:
+         return PIPE_FORMAT_NV12;
+#ifdef VDP_CHROMA_TYPE_420_16
+      case VDP_CHROMA_TYPE_420_16:
+         return PIPE_FORMAT_P016;
+#endif
+      default:
+         assert(0);
+   }
+
+   return PIPE_FORMAT_NONE;
+}
+
 static inline VdpYCbCrFormat
 PipeToFormatYCBCR(enum pipe_format p_format)
 {