diff --git a/libavutil/hwcontext.h b/libavutil/hwcontext.h
index 785da090b3fc4b4e91f989370ea4606c79bae823..f5bc0778972522a97a0875792fcd42b6ee8d15a4 100644
--- a/libavutil/hwcontext.h
+++ b/libavutil/hwcontext.h
@@ -223,10 +223,9 @@ typedef struct AVHWFramesContext {
 } AVHWFramesContext;
 
 /**
- * Allocate an AVHWDeviceContext for a given pixel format.
+ * Allocate an AVHWDeviceContext for a given hardware type.
  *
- * @param format a hwaccel pixel format (AV_PIX_FMT_FLAG_HWACCEL must be set
- *               on the corresponding format descriptor)
+ * @param type the type of the hardware device to allocate.
  * @return a reference to the newly created AVHWDeviceContext on success or NULL
  *         on failure.
  */