diff --git a/doc/users/whats_new/fix_avconv.rst b/doc/users/whats_new/fix_avconv.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..afa033e37515
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/users/whats_new/fix_avconv.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+AVConv writer is back
+---------------------
+Correct a bug that prevented detection of AVconv for matplotlib.animation.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
index 074ec98e1f76..ad3db64b5280 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
@@ -616,6 +616,7 @@ def output_args(self):
     def _handle_subprocess(cls, process):
         _, err = process.communicate()
         # Ubuntu 12.04 ships a broken ffmpeg binary which we shouldn't use
+        # NOTE : when removed, remove the same method in AVConvBase.
         if 'Libav' in err.decode():
             return False
         return True
@@ -674,6 +675,11 @@ class AVConvBase(FFMpegBase):
     exec_key = 'animation.avconv_path'
     args_key = 'animation.avconv_args'
 
+    # NOTE : should be removed when the same method is removed in FFMpegBase.
+    @classmethod
+    def _handle_subprocess(cls, process):
+        return MovieWriter._handle_subprocess(process)
+
 
 # Combine AVConv options with pipe-based writing
 @writers.register('avconv')