diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 817f791eb..c0da570ae 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2003-05-17  Moritz Bunkus  <moritz@bunkus.org>
 
+        * Renamed '--no-utf8-subs' to '--sub-type utf8'. Polished the man
+        page regarding subtitle handling.
+
         * Fixed a bug with mono MP3 files.
 
         * Added support for AAC files (only those with ADTS headers at the
diff --git a/mkvmerge.1 b/mkvmerge.1
index 9bd5232c8..ab4ffd528 100644
--- a/mkvmerge.1
+++ b/mkvmerge.1
@@ -121,12 +121,14 @@ floating point number or as 'widht/height', e.g. 16/9.
 .LP
 Options that only apply to text subtitle tracks:
 .TP
-\fB\-\-no\-utf8\-subs\fR
-With this option text subtitles will not be recoded, and the track's
-CodecId will be set to S_TEXT/ASCII. Without this option the text subtitles
-will be converted to UTF\-8, and the track's CodecId will be set to
-S_TEXT/UTF8. \fBmkvmerge\fR uses the current locale to determine the charset
-from which to convert which can be overridden with \fB\-\-sub\-charset\fR.
+\fB\-\-sub\-format\fR <\fIutf8\fR|\fIascii\fR>
+If the format chosen is \fIutf8\fR then text subtitles will be recoded to
+UTF-8, and the track's codec ID will be set to S_TEXT/UTF8. \fIascii\fR does
+no conversion, and S_TEXT/ASCII will be used instead. \fBmkvmerge\fR uses the
+current locale to determine the charset from which to convert which can be
+overridden with \fB\-\-sub\-charset\fR.
+.br
+The default is utf8.
 .TP
 \fB\-\-sub\-charset\fR
 Sets the charset for the conversion to UTF-8 for UTF-8 subtitles. If not
@@ -167,11 +169,15 @@ could be converted into the following option file:
 \-A a movie.avi
 .br
 sound.ogg
+
+
 .SH USAGE
 .LP
 For each file the user can select which tracks \fBmkvmerge\fR should take.
 They are all put into the file specified with '-o'. A list of known
 (and supported) source formats can be obtained with the '-l' option.
+
+
 .SH EXAMPLES
 .LP
 Let's assume you have a file called \fIMyMovie.avi\fP and the audio track in a
@@ -262,6 +268,25 @@ $ \fBsrttool -s -w -i mymovie.srtx -o mymovie.srt\fP
 The resulting file can be used as another input file for \fBmkvmerge\fR:
 .LP
 $ \fBmkvmerge -o mymovie.mkv mymovie.avi mymovie.srt\fP
+
+
+.SH SUBTITLES
+.LP
+There are several text subtitle formats that can be embedded into Matroska.
+At the moment \fBmkvmerge\fR supports only one simple text subtitle formats:
+SRT (Subtitle Ripper). These subtitles should normally be recoded to UTF-8
+so that they can be displayed correctly by a player. For recoded subtitles
+Matroska specifies S_TEXT/UTF8 as the codec ID. There's also S_TEXT/ASCII
+which assumes that no conversion is necessary.
+.LP
+\fBmkvmerge\fR does this conversion automatically based on the system's current
+locale. If the user does not want that conversion then he has to use the
+\fB\-\-sub\-type ascii\fR switch. If the subtitle charset is not the same as
+the system's current charset then the user can use \fB\-\-sub\-charset\fR
+switch. If the subtitles are already encoded in UTF-8 then you can use
+\fB\-\-sub\-charset UTF\-8\fR.
+
+
 .SH NOTES
 .LP
 What works:
diff --git a/mkvmerge.cpp b/mkvmerge.cpp
index bce2e84d3..353394439 100644
--- a/mkvmerge.cpp
+++ b/mkvmerge.cpp
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 /*!
     \file
-    \version \$Id: mkvmerge.cpp,v 1.65 2003/05/17 20:51:34 mosu Exp $
+    \version \$Id: mkvmerge.cpp,v 1.66 2003/05/17 23:25:08 mosu Exp $
     \brief command line parameter parsing, looping, output handling
     \author Moritz Bunkus         <moritz @ bunkus.org>
 */
@@ -288,8 +288,9 @@ static void usage(void) {
     "                           Works only for video tracks.\n"
     "  --aspect-ratio <f|a/b>   Sets the aspect ratio.\n"
     "\n Options that only apply to text subtitle tracks:\n"
-    "  --no-utf8-subs           Outputs text subtitles unmodified and do not\n"
-    "                           convert the text to UTF-8.\n"
+    "  --sub-format <utf8|      Converts text subtitles to UTF-8 or not.\n"
+    "                ascii>     keeps them as they are and assumes ASCII\n"
+    "                           encoding.\n"
     "  --sub-charset            Sets the charset the text subtitles are\n"
     "                           written in for the conversion to UTF-8.\n"
     "\n\n Other options:\n"
@@ -806,8 +807,21 @@ static void parse_args(int argc, char **argv) {
     } else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "--default-track"))
       ti.default_track = 1;
 
-    else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "--no-utf8-subs"))
-      ti.no_utf8_subs = 1;
+    else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "--sub-type")) {
+      if ((i + 1) >= argc) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Error: --sub-type lacks its argument.\n");
+        exit(1);
+      }
+      if (!strcmp(argv[i + 1], "utf8"))
+        ti.no_utf8_subs = 0;
+      else if (!strcmp(argv[i + 1], "ascii"))
+        ti.no_utf8_subs = 1;
+      else {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Error: '%s' is an unsupported subtitle type.\n",
+                argv[i + 1]);
+        exit(1);
+      }
+    }
 
     else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "--language")) {
       if ((i + 1) >= argc) {