diff --git a/DOCS/man/input.rst b/DOCS/man/input.rst
index 049b221758..c49587eabf 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/input.rst
+++ b/DOCS/man/input.rst
@@ -933,8 +933,10 @@ Property list
 ``playtime-remaining``
     ``time-remaining`` scaled by the current ``speed``.
 
-``playback-time``
-    Return the playback time, which is the time difference between start PTS and current PTS.
+``playback-time`` (RW)
+    The playback time, which is the time relative to playback start. (This can
+    be different from the ``time-pos`` property if the file does not start at
+    position ``0``, in which case ``time-pos`` is the source timestamp.)
 
 ``chapter`` (RW)
     Current chapter number. The number of the first chapter is 0.
diff --git a/player/command.c b/player/command.c
index a74cde2b23..8514be98f7 100644
--- a/player/command.c
+++ b/player/command.c
@@ -686,6 +686,11 @@ static int mp_property_playback_time(void *ctx, struct m_property *prop,
     if (!mpctx->playback_initialized)
         return M_PROPERTY_UNAVAILABLE;
 
+    if (action == M_PROPERTY_SET) {
+        double target = get_start_time(mpctx) + *(double *)arg;
+        queue_seek(mpctx, MPSEEK_ABSOLUTE, target, MPSEEK_DEFAULT, true);
+        return M_PROPERTY_OK;
+    }
     return property_time(action, arg, get_playback_time(mpctx));
 }