diff --git a/include/libcamera/internal/formats.h b/include/libcamera/internal/formats.h
index b8e474916378..51a8a6b8b0ae 100644
--- a/include/libcamera/internal/formats.h
+++ b/include/libcamera/internal/formats.h
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ public:
 	unsigned int frameSize(const Size &size,
 			       const std::array<unsigned int, 3> &strides) const;
 
+	unsigned int numPlanes() const;
+
 	/* \todo Add support for non-contiguous memory planes */
 	const char *name;
 	PixelFormat format;
diff --git a/src/libcamera/formats.cpp b/src/libcamera/formats.cpp
index a51e96810aed..ebaae9be3d75 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/formats.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/formats.cpp
@@ -821,4 +821,22 @@ PixelFormatInfo::frameSize(const Size &size,
 	return sum;
 }
 
+/**
+ * \brief Retrieve the number of planes represented by the format
+ * \return The number of planes used by the format
+ */
+unsigned int PixelFormatInfo::numPlanes() const
+{
+	unsigned int count = 0;
+
+	for (const PixelFormatPlaneInfo &p : planes) {
+		if (p.bytesPerGroup == 0)
+			break;
+
+		count++;
+	}
+
+	return count;
+}
+
 } /* namespace libcamera */