diff --git a/DOCS/interface-changes.rst b/DOCS/interface-changes.rst
index bad810bef0..549c338ada 100644
--- a/DOCS/interface-changes.rst
+++ b/DOCS/interface-changes.rst
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ Interface changes
     - the "subprocess" command does not connect spawned processes' stdin to
       mpv's stdin anymore. Instead, stdin is connected to /dev/null by default.
       To get the old behavior, set the "passthrough_stdin" argument to true.
+    - key/value list options do not accept ":" as item separator anymore,
+      only ",". This means ":" is always considered part of the value.
  --- mpv 0.32.0 ---
     - change behavior when using legacy option syntax with options that start
       with two dashes (``--`` instead of a ``-``). Now, using the recommended
diff --git a/DOCS/man/mpv.rst b/DOCS/man/mpv.rst
index dc61394ff7..c068f87ece 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/mpv.rst
+++ b/DOCS/man/mpv.rst
@@ -542,6 +542,13 @@ Suffix        Meaning
 Keys are unique within the list. If an already present key is set, the existing
 key is removed before the new value is appended.
 
+If you want to pass a value without interpreting it for escapes or ``,``, it is
+recommended to use the ``-add`` variant. When using libmpv, prefer using
+``MPV_FORMAT_NODE_MAP``; when using a scripting backend or the JSON IPC, use an
+appropriate structured data type.
+
+Prior to mpv 0.33, ``:`` was also recognized as separator by ``-set``.
+
 Filter options
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/options/m_option.c b/options/m_option.c
index 9b0fd82779..4d222df500 100644
--- a/options/m_option.c
+++ b/options/m_option.c
@@ -1710,7 +1710,7 @@ static int parse_keyvalue_list(struct mp_log *log, const m_option_t *opt,
             val = param;
             param.len = 0;
         } else {
-            r = read_subparam(log, name, ",:", &param, &val);
+            r = read_subparam(log, name, ",", &param, &val);
             if (r < 0)
                 break;
         }