diff --git a/common/meson.build b/common/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4bca5ea435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+version_h = vcs_tag(
+    command: ['git', 'describe', '--always', '--tags', '--dirty'],
+    input: 'version.h.in',
+    output: 'version.h',
+    replace_string: '@VERSION@',
+)
+
+sources += version_h
diff --git a/common/version.h.in b/common/version.h.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7d1c92f1bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/version.h.in
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#define VERSION "@VERSION@"
+#define BUILDDATE __DATE__ " " __TIME__
+#define MPVCOPYRIGHT "Copyright © 2000-2023 mpv/MPlayer/mplayer2 projects"
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index be26cbd633..c49ee8f739 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -556,7 +556,6 @@ tools_directory = join_paths(source_root, 'TOOLS')
 docutils_wrapper = find_program(join_paths(tools_directory, 'docutils-wrapper.py'))
 file2string = find_program(join_paths(tools_directory, 'file2string.py'))
 matroska = find_program(join_paths(tools_directory, 'matroska.py'))
-version_py = find_program(join_paths(source_root, 'version.py'))
 
 ebml_defs = custom_target('ebml_defs.inc',
     output: 'ebml_defs.inc',
@@ -568,13 +567,9 @@ ebml_types = custom_target('ebml_types.h',
     command: [matroska, '--generate-header', '@OUTPUT@'],
 )
 
-version_h = custom_target('version.h',
-    output: 'version.h',
-    command: [version_py, '@OUTPUT@'],
-    build_always_stale: true,
-)
-sources += [ebml_defs, ebml_types, version_h]
+sources += [ebml_defs, ebml_types]
 
+subdir('common')
 subdir('etc')
 subdir('player')
 subdir('sub')
diff --git a/version.py b/version.py
deleted file mode 100755
index 18f13e3cbe..0000000000
--- a/version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-
-import os
-import sys
-import time
-
-from datetime import datetime,timezone
-from shutil import which
-from subprocess import check_output
-
-srcdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]))
-git_dir = os.path.join(srcdir, ".git")
-git = which('git')
-
-if git and os.path.exists(git_dir):
-    version = check_output([git, "-C", srcdir, "describe", "--always", "--tags",
-                            "--dirty"], encoding="UTF-8")
-    version = version[1:].strip()
-else:
-    version_path = os.path.join(srcdir, "VERSION")
-    with open(version_path, "r") as f:
-        version = f.readline().strip()
-
-if len(sys.argv) < 2:
-    print(version)
-    sys.exit()
-
-ts = float(os.environ.get('SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH', time.time()))
-date = datetime.fromtimestamp(ts, timezone.utc)
-
-OLD_REVISION = ""
-NEW_REVISION = f'#define VERSION "{version}"'
-BUILDDATE = f'#define BUILDDATE "{date.ctime()}"'
-MPVCOPYRIGHT = f'#define MPVCOPYRIGHT "Copyright © 2000-2023 mpv/MPlayer/mplayer2 projects"'
-
-if os.path.isfile(sys.argv[1]):
-    with open(sys.argv[1], "r") as f:
-        OLD_REVISION = f.readline().strip()
-
-if NEW_REVISION != OLD_REVISION or NEW_REVISION.endswith('dirty"'):
-    with open(sys.argv[1], "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        f.writelines(f"{l}{os.linesep}" for l in [NEW_REVISION, BUILDDATE, MPVCOPYRIGHT])