diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index a2d59776c05..429865c9442 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -398,16 +398,17 @@ elif not (with_gallium_r300 or with_gallium_r600 or with_gallium_radeonsi or
   else
     _vdpau = 'false'
   endif
-elif _vdpau == 'auto'
-  _vdpau = 'true'
 endif
-with_gallium_vdpau = _vdpau == 'true'
 dep_vdpau = null_dep
-if with_gallium_vdpau
-  dep_vdpau = dependency('vdpau', version : '>= 1.1')
-  dep_vdpau = declare_dependency(
-    compile_args : run_command(prog_pkgconfig, ['vdpau', '--cflags']).stdout().split()
-  )
+with_gallium_vdpau = false
+if _vdpau != 'false'
+  dep_vdpau = dependency('vdpau', version : '>= 1.1', required : _vdpau == 'true')
+  if dep_vdpau.found()
+    dep_vdpau = declare_dependency(
+      compile_args : run_command(prog_pkgconfig, ['vdpau', '--cflags']).stdout().split()
+    )
+    with_gallium_vdpau = true
+  endif
 endif
 
 if with_gallium_vdpau