diff --git a/cfg-mplayer.h b/cfg-mplayer.h
index 78651adf6a..f1e5501d5f 100644
--- a/cfg-mplayer.h
+++ b/cfg-mplayer.h
@@ -64,7 +64,9 @@ struct config conf[]={
 	{"nofs", &fullscreen, CONF_TYPE_FLAG, 0, 1, 0},
         {"zoom", &softzoom, CONF_TYPE_FLAG, 0, 0, 1},
         {"nozoom", &softzoom, CONF_TYPE_FLAG, 0, 1, 0},
-        
+       
+        {"bpp", &user_bpp, CONF_TYPE_INT, CONF_RANGE, 0, 32},
+	
 	{"idx", &no_index, CONF_TYPE_FLAG, 0, 1, 0},
 	{"noidx", &no_index, CONF_TYPE_FLAG, 0, 0, 1},
 	{"verbose", &verbose, CONF_TYPE_INT, CONF_RANGE, 0, 100},
diff --git a/mplayer.c b/mplayer.c
index 839ca3ce34..94a2bec9e7 100644
--- a/mplayer.c
+++ b/mplayer.c
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ float font_factor=0.75;
 char *sub_name=NULL;
 float sub_delay=0;
 float sub_fps=0;
+int user_bpp=0;
 #include "cfg-mplayer.h"
 
   printf("%s",banner_text);
@@ -857,9 +858,17 @@ has_video=sh_video->codec->driver;
 
 printf("Found video codec: [%s] drv:%d (%s)\n",sh_video->codec->name,sh_video->codec->driver,sh_video->codec->info);
 
+if(user_bpp)printf("Trying user defined depth of %dbpp\n", user_bpp);
+
 for(i=0;i<CODECS_MAX_OUTFMT;i++){
     out_fmt=sh_video->codec->outfmt[i];
-    if(video_out->query_format(out_fmt)) break;
+    if(user_bpp){
+        if( ((out_fmt & IMGFMT_BGR_MASK) == IMGFMT_BGR) && ((out_fmt & 0xff) == user_bpp) || (out_fmt & IMGFMT_BGR_MASK) != IMGFMT_BGR){
+	     if(video_out->query_format(out_fmt)) break;
+	}
+    }else{
+  	  if(video_out->query_format(out_fmt)) break;
+    }
 }
 if(i>=CODECS_MAX_OUTFMT){
     printf("Sorry, selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.\n");