diff --git a/doc/formats.texi b/doc/formats.texi
index 44e45329ff..6e69bfa582 100644
--- a/doc/formats.texi
+++ b/doc/formats.texi
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Consider things that a sane encoder should not do as an error.
 Use wallclock as timestamps.
 
 @item avoid_negative_ts @var{integer} (@emph{output})
-Shift timestamps to make them positive. A value of 1 enables shifting,
+Shift timestamps to make them non-negative. A value of 1 enables shifting,
 a value of 0 disables it, the default value of -1 enables shifting
 when required by the target format.
 
diff --git a/libavformat/options_table.h b/libavformat/options_table.h
index 025554d614..e23ec01a4e 100644
--- a/libavformat/options_table.h
+++ b/libavformat/options_table.h
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ static const AVOption options[]={
 {"compliant",  "consider all spec non compliancies as errors", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = AV_EF_COMPLIANT }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D, "err_detect"},
 {"aggressive", "consider things that a sane encoder shouldn't do as an error", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = AV_EF_AGGRESSIVE }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, D, "err_detect"},
 {"use_wallclock_as_timestamps", "use wallclock as timestamps", OFFSET(use_wallclock_as_timestamps), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 0}, 0, INT_MAX-1, D},
-{"avoid_negative_ts", "shift timestamps to make them positive. 1 enables, 0 disables, default of -1 enables when required by target format.", OFFSET(avoid_negative_ts), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = -1}, -1, 1, E},
+{"avoid_negative_ts", "shift timestamps to make them non-negative. 1 enables, 0 disables, default of -1 enables when required by target format.", OFFSET(avoid_negative_ts), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = -1}, -1, 1, E},
 {"skip_initial_bytes", "skip initial bytes", OFFSET(skip_initial_bytes), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 0}, 0, INT_MAX-1, D},
 {"correct_ts_overflow", "correct single timestamp overflows", OFFSET(correct_ts_overflow), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 1}, 0, 1, D},
 {"flush_packets", "enable flushing of the I/O context after each packet", OFFSET(flush_packets), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = 1}, 0, 1, E},