diff --git a/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1 b/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1
index 6bb3870d70..5a8eb2dd2e 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1
+++ b/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1
@@ -2272,11 +2272,6 @@ In Xinerama configurations (i.e.\& a single desktop that spans across multiple
 displays) this option tells MPlayer which screen to display movie on.
 .
 .TP
-.B \-z <0\-9> (\-vo png only)
-Specifies the compression level of the png video output driver.
-0 is no compression, 9 is the maximum compression.
-.
-.TP
 .B \-zrbw (\-vo zr only)
 Display in black and white.
 For optimal performance, this can be combined with '\-lavdopts gray'.
@@ -2977,10 +2972,17 @@ Must be equal to or larger than 1 (default: 1000).
 .PD 1
 .
 .TP
-.B png (also see \-z)
+.B png\ \ 
 Output each frame into a PNG file in the current directory.
 Each file takes the frame number padded with leading zeros as name.
 24bpp RGB and BGR formats are supported.
+.PD 0
+.RSs
+.IPs z=<0-9>
+Specifies the compression level.
+0 is no compression, 9 is maximum compression.
+.RE
+.PD 1
 .
 .TP
 .B tga\ \ \ \ 
diff --git a/cfg-mplayer.h b/cfg-mplayer.h
index b9d6a5d018..182f7fcf7f 100644
--- a/cfg-mplayer.h
+++ b/cfg-mplayer.h
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ m_option_t mplayer_opts[]={
 
 	// -vo png only:
 #ifdef HAVE_PNG
-	{"z", &z_compression, CONF_TYPE_INT, CONF_RANGE, 0, 9, NULL},
+	{"z", "-z is replaced by -vo png:z=<0-9>\n", CONF_TYPE_PRINT, 0, 0, 0, NULL},
 #endif
 	// -vo jpeg only:
 #ifdef HAVE_JPEG
diff --git a/libvo/vo_png.c b/libvo/vo_png.c
index e8d47898d5..5173fbf64e 100644
--- a/libvo/vo_png.c
+++ b/libvo/vo_png.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "config.h"
 #include "video_out.h"
 #include "video_out_internal.h"
+#include "subopt-helper.h"
 
 static vo_info_t info = 
 {
@@ -43,19 +44,11 @@ static uint32_t
 config(uint32_t width, uint32_t height, uint32_t d_width, uint32_t d_height, uint32_t fullscreen, char *title, uint32_t format)
 {
     
-    if((z_compression >= 0) && (z_compression <= 9)) {
 	    if(z_compression == 0) {
 		    printf("PNG Warning: compression level set to 0, compression disabled!\n");
-		    printf("PNG Info: Use the -z <n> switch to set compression level from 0 to 9.\n");
+		    printf("PNG Info: Use -vo png:z=<n> to set compression level from 0 to 9.\n");
 		    printf("PNG Info: (0 = no compression, 1 = fastest, lowest - 9 best, slowest compression)\n");
 	    }	    
-    }
-    else {	    	    
-	    printf("PNG Warning: compression level out of range setting to 1!\n");
-	    printf("PNG Info: Use the -z <n> switch to set compression level from 0 to 9.\n");
-	    printf("PNG Info: (0 = no compression, 1 = fastest, lowest - 9 best, slowest compression)\n");
-	    z_compression = Z_BEST_SPEED;
-    }
     
     if(verbose)	printf("PNG Compression level %i\n", z_compression);   
 	  	
@@ -206,12 +199,23 @@ static void uninit(void){}
 
 static void check_events(void){}
 
+static int int_zero_to_nine(int *sh)
+{
+    if ( (*sh < 0) || (*sh > 9) )
+        return 0;
+    return 1;
+}
+
+static opt_t subopts[] = {
+    {"z",   OPT_ARG_INT, &z_compression, (opt_test_f)int_zero_to_nine},
+    {NULL}
+};
+
 static uint32_t preinit(const char *arg)
 {
-    if(arg) 
-    {
-	printf("PNG Unknown subdevice: %s\n",arg);
-	return ENOSYS;
+    z_compression = 0;
+    if (subopt_parse(arg, subopts) != 0) {
+        return -1;
     }
     return 0;
 }