diff --git a/doc/ffmpeg.texi b/doc/ffmpeg.texi
index 2e1d469612..832e3d8fe2 100644
--- a/doc/ffmpeg.texi
+++ b/doc/ffmpeg.texi
@@ -732,7 +732,7 @@ Read input at native frame rate. Mainly used to simulate a grab device.
 @item -loop_input
 Loop over the input stream. Currently it works only for image
 streams. This option is used for automatic FFserver testing.
-This option is deprecated, use -loop.
+This option is deprecated, use -loop 1.
 @item -loop_output @var{number_of_times}
 Repeatedly loop output for formats that support looping such as animated GIF
 (0 will loop the output infinitely).
diff --git a/ffmpeg.c b/ffmpeg.c
index 2a1ee79bad..957abed388 100644
--- a/ffmpeg.c
+++ b/ffmpeg.c
@@ -3347,6 +3347,11 @@ static int opt_input_file(const char *opt, const char *filename)
         find_codec_or_die(subtitle_codec_name, AVMEDIA_TYPE_SUBTITLE, 0);
     ic->flags |= AVFMT_FLAG_NONBLOCK;
 
+    if (loop_input) {
+        av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_WARNING, "-loop_input is deprecated, use -loop 1\n");
+        ic->loop_input = loop_input;
+    }
+
     /* open the input file with generic libav function */
     err = avformat_open_input(&ic, filename, file_iformat, &format_opts);
     if (err < 0) {
@@ -3379,11 +3384,6 @@ static int opt_input_file(const char *opt, const char *filename)
         opt_programid=0;
     }
 
-    if (loop_input) {
-        av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_WARNING, "-loop_input is deprecated, use -loop 1\n");
-        ic->loop_input = loop_input;
-    }
-
     /* Set AVCodecContext options for avformat_find_stream_info */
     opts = setup_find_stream_info_opts(ic, codec_opts);
     orig_nb_streams = ic->nb_streams;